Executive functions are highly sensitive to the effects of aging and other conditions affecting frontal lobe function.
Yet there are few validated interventions specifically designed to address executive functions, and, to our
knowledge, none validated in a healthy aging sample. As part of a large-scale cognitive rehabilitation randomized
trial in 49 healthy older adults, a modified Goal Management Training program was included to address the real-life
deficits caused by executive dysfunction. This program emphasized periodic suspension of ongoing activity to
establish goal hierarchies and monitor behavioral output. Tabletop simulated real-life tasks (SRLTs) were developed
to measure the processes targeted by this intervention. Participants were randomized to two groups, one of which
received the intervention immediately and the other of which was wait-listed prior to rehabilitation. Results
indicated improvements in SRLT performance and self-rated executive deficits coinciding with the training in both
groups. These gains were maintained at long-term follow-up. Future research will assess the specificity of these
effects in patient groups (JINS, 2007, 13, 143?152.)
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