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Executive Deficits In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Examining The Consequences Of Self-Regulatory Impairment On Quality Of Life, Abbey R. Roach

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that attacks the motor system and contributes to a range of cognitive and behavioral impairments (e.g., behavioral and emotional disinhibition, planning and problem solving difficulties, impulsivity, attention, and personality change). This executive dysfunction may contribute to selfregulatory impairment across several domains, including cognitive skills, thought processes, emotion regulation, interpersonal skills, and physiology, that may be crucial to the quality of life (QOL), or well being, of patients and their caregivers. Given the relentless course and prognosis of ALS, palliative treatments for ALS should target the full range of self-regulatory deficits. Thirty-seven …