title: Decision-making speed in HIV-1 infection: a preliminary report.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the efficacy of reaction time measures derived from cognitive psychology as measures of subclinical cognitive slowing in individuals with HIV-1 infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cognitive slowing is the primary deficit in AIDS dementia. One measure of cognitive slowing is decision-making speed, the discrepancy between simple and choice reaction times, which represents an index of central information processing time.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nineteen HIV-seropositive and 13 control subjects performed a detection and decision task in a reaction time procedure. All subjects were administered measures of simple and choice reaction time, a control measure of rate of verbal encoding, and measures of psychological distress.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with controls, both symptomatic and asymptomatic HIV-seropositive subjects had significantly longer decision times, but performed the control task of rate of encoding normally. Simple reaction times correlated significantly with depression scores, but choice reaction times were unrelated to psychological distress.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results support mental slowing as the initial cognitive disturbance of HIV-1 infection and emphasize potential use of reaction times as markers of central nervous system involvement in HIV-1 infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of California School of Medicine, Davis.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Sorensen
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Edelstein
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Robertson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013997:Time Factors