Abstract

GONCALVES, Hosana Alves; CARDOSO, Caroline de Oliveira  and  ARAUJO, Renata Brasil. Executive functions on the crack dependence: a case study. Neuropsicologia Latinoamericana [online]. 2011, vol.3, n.2, pp. 7-13. ISSN 2075-9479.

The intersection of neuropsychology and psychopathology is still incipient, especially when it comes to the understanding of specific components of executive functions (EF) impaired by a neuropsychiatric disease as drug addiction. The present study aimed to characterize the cognitive profile of executive processing in a case of addiction to cocaine/crack. A flexible EF battery was used: Wisconsin Card Sorting Test - 48 cards, the Iowa Gambling Task, the Hayling Test and the three modalities of verbal fluency of the Bateria Montreal de Avaliação da Comunicação. The results suggest a preservation of the majority of EF components, such as verbal initiation and inhibition, attention, monitoring, planning and cognitive flexibility, but there seems to be a deficit in decisionmaking. The length of abstinence may have contributed to the spared performance of the patient in most tasks. Towards a better understanding of dissociations in executive processing in the neuropsychiatric disorder of drug addiction more multiple case studies and group studies need to be conducted.

Keywords : Neuropsychological assessment; Executive functions; Substance dependence.

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