title: Attention deficits in stroke patients with aphasia.
abstract: Attentional capacity and sustained attention were investigated in 21 aphasic stroke patients and 21 non-brain-damaged patients. Attentional capacity was assessed using a series of reaction time (RT) tasks. The aphasic patients demonstrated impaired attentional capacity as shown by slower processing speed than the non-brain-damaged group (p < .01) and greater increases in RT with increased processing load (p < .05). Similar patterns were found for both verbal and spatial material. There was no significant relationship between severity of auditory comprehension deficits and attentional capacity. Sustained attention was assessed using a cognitive vigilance task requiring identification of a target letter presented infrequently over 32 minutes. Both the aphasic and the non-brain-damaged group demonstrated a decline in performance with time on task as shown by a steady increase in RTs (p < .0001), but the decline was equivalent across the groups. Thus, the aphasic group did not show a specific deficit in the ability to sustain attention.
authors.affiliation: School of Human Communication Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Korda
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Douglas
mesh_terms: D001037:Aphasia / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology