Components of Executive Function Predict Regional Prefrontal Volumes

Objective: Designed to measure a diversity of executive functioning (EF) through classical neuropsychological tests, the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function Scale (D-KEFS) allows for the investigation of the neural architecture of EF. We examined how the D-KEFS Tower, Verbal Fluency, Design Fluency, Color-Word Interference, and Trail Making Test tasks related to regional frontal lobe volumes, quantifying how components of EF were represented in disparate neural networks. Method: Adults from the Nathan Kline Institute - Rockland Sample (NKI-RS), an open-access community study of brain development, with complete MRI (3T scanner) and D-KEFS data were selected for analysis (N = 478; ages 20-85). In a mixed-effects model predicting volume, D-KEFS task, D-KEFS score, region of interest (ROI; 13 frontal, 1 occipital control), were entered as fixed effects with intercepts for participants as random effects. Results: Unitary EF (average of D-KEFS scores) was positively associated with superior frontal, rostral middle frontal, and lateral orbitofrontal volumes; a negative association was observed with frontal pole volume (| z-score slope | range = 0.040 to 0.051). Diverse EF skills (individual D-KEFS task scores) were differentially associated with two or three ROIs, respectively, but to a stronger extent (| z-score slope | range = 0.053 to 0.103). Conclusions: The neural correlates found for the D-KEFS support the prefrontal modularity of EF at both the unitary (aspects of EF ability common to all tasks) and task (diverse EF skills) levels. The separation of task-general variance in neurocognition from task-specific variance can further evaluate neuropsychological tests as indices of brain integrity.