Executive control of emotional processing: a set-shifting task

Emotional activation can interfere with cognitive control processes in healthy individuals, and depression is associated with impaired disengagement from negative information. However, traditional measures of executive functions are free from emotionally relevant stimuli. In the current study we designed a new task based on the structure of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), using emotional faces as stimuli. Here 110 adult participants performed either the Emotional Picture Sorting Task (EPST) or the WCST. Generally, participants performed the EPST similarly to the WCST, but significantly more trials were needed to complete the EPST. Results across six outcome variables indicate that the EPST was somewhat more difficult than the WCST. Larger standard deviations were observed in the EPST group, suggesting that the emotional stimuli might have had an interfering effect in some, but not in all, individuals. This task may become useful as a psychometric test of executive control over emotional stimuli.