The structure of normal human attention: The Test of Everyday Attention

Abstract

A range of tests of everyday attention is described, based on ecologically plausible activities such as searching maps, looking through telephone directories, and listening to lottery number broadcasts. An age-, sex- and IQ-stratified sample of 154 normal participants was given these tests, along with a number of existing tests of attention. The factor structure revealed by this data set matched well contemporary evidence for a set of functionally independent attentional circuits in the brain, and included factors for sustained attention, selective attention, attentional switching and auditory-verbal working memory. The Test of Everyday Attention (TEA), which was developed and standardized on the basis of these subtests, has three parallel forms, high test-retest reliability, and correlates significantly with existing measures of attention. Furthermore, selected subtests successfully discriminate among a number of brain-impaired groups, including closed head injury versus age-matched controls, minimal versus mild Alzheimer’s disease, and progressive supranuclear palsy patients versus age-matched controls. (JINS, 1996, 2, 525–534.)

Association of the dopamine transporter (DAT1) 10/10-repeat genotype with ADHD symptoms and response inhibition in a general population sample

“…The first, Score!, is adapted from adult neuropsychological and functional imaging studies. [70][71][72] Here, children were asked to count the number of identical tones (between three and 15) presented in each item. The demands of the test lie in maintaining active attention to the dull task across the long, silent intervals between each sound (up to 5 s).…”

Awareness of deficits in traumatic brain injury: A multidimensional approach to assessing metacognitive knowledge and online-awareness

“…These included: National Adult Reading Test (NART) (Nelson, 1982;Nelson & Willison, 1991), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) (Zigmond & Snaith, 1983), Frenchay Aphasia Screening Test (FAST) (Enderby et al, 1987), and Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) (Dubois et al, 2000). (Robertson et al, 1996) and the Sustained Attention to Response Task (Robertson et al, 1997, Manly et al, 2003, Dockree et al, 2006. Participants undertook three tasks of sustained attention: the Fixed SART, Random SART and the DART.…”

Older adults and withdrawal from benzodiazepine hypnotics in general practice: effects on cognitive function, sleep, mood and quality of life

“…This is a subtest from the Tests of Everyday Attention (Robertson et al 1996) that taps visuospatial search abilities. Participants were shown a target symbol on a large, coloured map and then given 2 min to locate as many instances of the specified symbol as possible.…”