Broken Ring enVision Search (BReViS): A New Clinical Test of Attention to Assess the Effect of Layout and Crowding on Visual Search

Abstract

The assessment of attention in neuropsychological patients could be performed with visual search tests. The Broken Rings enVision Search test (BReViS) here proposed represents a novel open access paper-and-pencil tool in which layout and crowding are varied among four cards. These manipulations allow the assessment of different components of attention: a selective component, the visuo-spatial orientation of attention, and the focal attention, involved in a crowding phenomenon. Our purpose was to determine the characteristics of the BReViS test, provide specific normative data, and assess these components across the lifespan. The test was administered to a sample of 550 participants aged between 20 and 79 years old and to a series of patients. Three indexes targeting different components of visuo-spatial attention (selective attention, strategic orientation of visual attention, focal attention) were obtained by combining execution times and accuracy together with the total errors. The results showed that age, education and gender influenced, in different combinations, the four indexes, for which specific norms were developed. Regression-based norms were provided in percentiles and equivalent scores. All patients showed pathological scores and specific patterns of attentional deficits. The BreViS test proved to be a free and easy valuable tool which can be used in the clinical environment to assess attentional deficits in neuropsychological patients.

The Complexity of Reading Revealed by a Study with Healthy Older Adults

“… The open-source open-access reaction time test (OORTT) is a computerized test to evaluate speed processing, consisting of three tasks: simple reaction times, go/no-go, and four-position reaction times [ 45 ]. The BreVIS test is a paper-and-pencil cancellation test that combines different layouts (linear vs. random) and levels of crowding (high vs. low) into four separate cards in order to assess visuospatial selective attention (SA), focal attention (FA), and the visual-spatial orientation of attention (OA) [ 42 ]. For each index, the higher the score, the poorer the performance in that specific attentional component.…”

“…The BreVIS test is a paper-and-pencil cancellation test that combines different layouts (linear vs. random) and levels of crowding (high vs. low) into four separate cards in order to assess visuospatial selective attention (SA), focal attention (FA), and the visual-spatial orientation of attention (OA) [ 42 ]. For each index, the higher the score, the poorer the performance in that specific attentional component.…”

“…Other evidence comes from neuropsychological attentional testing. Almost all tests of attention showed an influence of age on their performance, e.g., [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. However, the role of visuospatial attention in age-related changes in reading remains unknown.…”

Reliability and validity of a novel attention assessment scale (broken ring enVision search test) in the Chinese population

“…It was developed by Facchin et al (2023) . We have obtained authorization from the original authors to use it.…”

“…However, existing VSTs do not take into account the potential impact of stimulus layout and crowding on the test results of participants. Facchin et al developed a novel attention assessment scale—the Broken Ring enVision Search Test (BReViS) to evaluate attentional functions ( Facchin et al, 2023 ). It assesses different components of attention including selective attention, the visual–spatial orientation of attention, and focal attention involving crowding phenomena, and is a novel open-ended paper-and-pencil assessment tool.…”