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Executive Attention and Personality Variables in Patients with Frontal Lobe Damage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

María Rodríguez-Bailón ,
Mónica Triviño  and
Juan Lupiáñez
María Rodríguez-Bailón*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada (Spain)
Mónica Triviño
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada (Spain)
Juan Lupiáñez
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to María Rodríguez Bailón. Departamento de Psicología Experimental y Fisiología del Comportamiento. Universidad de Granada. Facultad de Psicología. Campus Universitario de Cartuja s/n, 18071 Granada (Spain). Phone: +34-958240667. Fax: +34-958246239. E-mail: mariarbailon@ugr.es
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Abstract

Executive Control is required to deal with novel situations or when an action plan is needed. This study aimed to highlight the executive attention deficits of patients with frontal lobe damage. To do so, the ANT-I task (Attention Network Test-Interactions) was administered for the first time to a group of 9 patients with frontal damage caused by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and a matched control group. This task made it possible to measure the three attentional networks proposed by Posner and Dehaene (1994) and their interactions. Results on the alerting and orienting networks did not show any significant differences between the groups. However, a significant effect of group on the executive control network was observed. In addition, participants' personality was assessed with a clinical inventory (the Millon Personality Inventory) that showed a significant positive correlation between borderline personality disorder and the conflict index. These results suggest that frontal lobe damage causes an exclusive impairment in the conflict resolution network that is related to personality traits characterized by a lack of behavioral control. More research will be necessary to study this causal relationship.

El sistema de control ejecutivo es requerido para resolver situaciones novedosas o que requieren de una planificación para su ejecución. Este estudio tiene como objetivo poner de manifiesto el déficit atencional ejecutivo específico que se presenta en pacientes con lesión cerebral frontal. Para ello, se administró la tarea ANT-I (Attention Network Test-Interactions), que mide las tres redes atencionales propuestas por Posner y Dehaene (1994) y las interacciones entre ellas, por primera vez, a un grupo de 9 pacientes con daño frontal tras traumatismo craneoencefálico (TCE) y a un grupo control emparejado. Los resultados mostraron que no hay diferencias significativas entre ambos grupos en las redes de alerta y de orientación. Sin embargo, sí se encontró un efecto significativo de grupo en la red de control ejecutivo. Añadido a este resultado, se analizó la personalidad de los pacientes y se observó que el trastorno de personalidad límite correlacionaba positivamente con el índice de control ejecutivo. Estos datos sugieren que el daño en la corteza prefrontal produce una alteración exclusiva en la resolución de conflicto y que esto se relaciona con variables de personalidad caracterizadas por una ausencia de control conductual. No obstante, se requiere más investigación para estudiar esta relación causal.

Keywords

executive controlattentionpersonalitybrain injurycontrol ejecutivoatenciónpersonalidaddaño cerebral
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , November 2012 , pp. 967 - 977
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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