Abstract

Individuals with chronic substance use disorders have demonstrated various types of executive dysfunction, including nonverbal planning and problem solving. Prior studies that have examined the cognitive abilities that support performance of the Tower of Hanoi, a measure of nonverbal planning and problem solving task, have predominately been investigated in healthy adult populations. The present study examined how executive functions such as concept formation and cognitive flexibility, as well as information processing speed, and memory contribute to the performance of the Tower of Hanoi within a sample of 191 individuals with a substance use disorder. Results indicated that concept formation, cognitive flexibility, and information processing speed, but not memory significantly predict performance of Tower of Hanoi. The implications of this study suggest that cognitive remediation of processing speed and executive functioning, especially within the domain of concept formation and cognitive flexibility may improve nonverbal planning and problem solving within a substance use population.

Authors and Affiliations