0950 Do Psychology Experiment Building Language Test Battery Executive Function Tasks Significantly Discriminate Insomnia Patients With Frontotemporal Syndrome From Healthy Controls Matched On Age, Gender, And Educational Level?

Abstract

Introduction: The process of normal aging affects both sleep and executive functioning (EF). Interestingly, EF seem to be sensitive to individual differences in sleep, and tend to show the greatest age-related deficits (Buckner, 2004). Moreover, sleep disorders appear to be frequent comorbidities in patients with frontal lobe syndromes. Although mechanisms underlying these associations are not yet clear, poor sleep is a risk factor for cognitive decline. Thus, examining the role of EF in age-related executive deficits may be important in order to identify possible indicators of subsequent global cognitive decline. Along these lines, the availability of an open source software system for neuropsychological testing may be a major aid. Against this background, the present study aimed for comparing the performance of selected Psychology Experiment Building Language Test Battery (PEBL) EF tasks across frontal lobe syndromes and healthy controls matched on age, gender, and education level. Methods: Twelve consecutively-admitted patients (male: 66.7%; mean age = 68.17 years, SD = 10.53 years) who suffer from a sleep disorder and frontal lobe syndromes were administered the PEBL version of the Berg's (“Wisconsin”) Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the Tower of London Task (ToL). Their performance was compared to the performance obtained in community-dwelling participants who were matched on age, gender and educational level. Results: WCST number of categories completed, U=30.00, rank rbs=.58, p