School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2021 Nov;27(10):1004-1014. doi: 10.1017/S1355617720001381. Epub 2021 Feb 26.
Meta-tasking (MT) is an aspect of executive functioning (EF) that involves the ability to branch (i.e., to apply "if-then" rules) and to effectively interleave sub-goals of one task with sub-goals of another task. As such, MT is crucial for successful planning, coordination, and execution of multiple complex tasks in daily life. Traditional tests of EF fail to adequately measure MT. This study examined whether Condition 4 of the Color-Word Interference Test (CWIT-4; the inhibition/switching condition that requires branching) predicted MT beyond Condition 3 (CWIT-3; inhibition-only condition) and beyond other subtests from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) that have a switching condition.
Ninety-eight non-Hispanic white community-dwelling older adults completed the first four subtests of the D-KEFS and an ecologically valid measure of MT.
Time to completion and total errors on CWIT-4 accounted for variance in MT above and beyond CWIT-3 and beyond the switching conditions of other D-KEFS subtests. Results remained virtually unchanged when controlling for demographics and general cognitive status.
Among older adults, CWIT-4 is more strongly associated with MT than other D-KFES tasks. Future research should examine whether CWIT-4 relates to lapses in instrumental activities of daily living among older adults above and beyond other EF tests.
元任务（MT）是执行功能（EF）的一个方面，涉及分支的能力（即应用“如果-那么”规则），并有效地将一个任务的子目标与另一个任务的子目标交织在一起。因此，MT 对于成功规划、协调和执行日常生活中的多个复杂任务至关重要。传统的 EF 测试未能充分衡量 MT。本研究检验了颜色-单词干扰测试（CWIT-4；需要分支的抑制/切换条件）是否能预测 MT，超越 CWIT-3（仅抑制条件）和 D-凯普兰执行功能系统（D-KEFS）中具有切换条件的其他子测试。
98 名非西班牙裔白人社区居住的老年人完成了 D-KEFS 的前四个子测试和一个生态有效测量 MT 的任务。
CWIT-4 的完成时间和总错误数在 MT 上的解释程度超过了 CWIT-3，也超过了其他 D-KEFS 子测试的切换条件。当控制人口统计学和一般认知状态时，结果几乎没有变化。
在老年人中，CWIT-4 与 MT 的关系比其他 D-KFES 任务更为密切。未来的研究应该检验 CWIT-4 是否与老年人日常生活活动中的失误有关，而不仅仅是其他 EF 测试。
