Executive functioning and relational framing in verbal adults

Relational Frame Theory (RFT) sees the operant acquisition of various patterns of derived relational responding as being key to language and cognition. Executive function (EF) is a concept widely used in cognitive psychology and is said to be critical for problem-solving, self-regulation, and overall success and wellbeing. The current study was a preliminary attempt to study the relationship between a measure of EF and fluency in derived relational responding. Forty-two verbal adults (25 males) participated in the study. All of them undertook a standardized EF test, the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST) and an experimenter-designed arbitrary relational responding assessment. The WCST required participants to match compound stimuli based on unspecified, frequently changing rules. The relational assessment evaluated rate of correct derived relational responding across seven relational frames. The results showed strong negative correlations between perseverative errors on the WCST and the overall rate of correct responses on the relational assessment, but no such correlations between correct responses on the WCST and those on the relational assessment.

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