Abstract
We explored short-term behavioral plasticity on the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (M-WCST) by deriving novel error metrics by stratifying traditional set loss and perseverative errors. Separating the rule set and the response set allowed for the measurement of performance across four trial types, crossing rule set (i.e., maintain vs. switch) and response demand (i.e., repeat vs. alternate). Critically, these four trial types can be grouped based on trial-wise feedback on t − 1 trials. Rewarded (correct) maintain t − 1 trials should lead to error enhancement when the response demands shift from repeat to alternate. In contrast, punished (incorrect) t − 1 trials should lead to error suppression when the response demands shift from repeat to alternate. The results supported the error suppression prediction: An error suppression effect (ESE) was observed across numerous patient samples. Exploratory analyses show that the ESE did not share substantial portions of variance with traditional neuropsychological measures of executive functioning. They further point into the direction that striatal or limbic circuit neuropathology may be associated with enhanced ESE. These data suggest that punishment of the recently executed response induces behavioral avoidance, which is detectable as the ESE on the WCST. The assessment of the ESE might provide an index of response-related avoidance learning on the WCST.
Highlights
The Wisconsin card sorting task was originally introduced in the 1940s [1,2]
These data suggest that punishment of the recently executed response induces behavioral avoidance, which is detectable as the error suppression effect (ESE) on the WCST
Observation that patients who suffer from large-scale excisions of their frontal lobes exhibited much stronger perseverative behavior (see the following paragraph than patients with posterior excisions contributed in a particular way to the success story of the Wisconsin card sorting task in clinical neuropsychology, paving the way for a number of standardized Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) variants [5,6,7,8]
Summary
The Wisconsin card sorting task was originally introduced in the 1940s [1,2]. It has a long history of application in neurological patients, which dates back to the 1950s and 1960s [3,4]. Observation that patients who suffer from large-scale excisions of their frontal lobes exhibited much stronger perseverative behavior (see the following paragraph than patients with posterior excisions contributed in a particular way to the success story of the Wisconsin card sorting task in clinical neuropsychology, paving the way for a number of standardized Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) variants [5,6,7,8]. Until recently, these WCST variants are still considered to be the gold standard for the neuropsychological assessment of executive functioning [9,10] (see [11,12,13,14,15,16] for reviews). The subject receives two sets of 64 response cards, which can be categorized according to color, shape, and number
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