title: Construct validity of concepts of attention in healthy controls and patients with CHI.
abstract: The present study aimed to examine the construct validity of three aspects of attention, namely focused, divided, and supervisory control of attention. Factor-analytic techniques were applied to scores of healthy subjects on a series of neuropsychological tests tapping these aspects of attention. The two components found did not match the hypothesized aspects and were labeled as Memory-driven Action and Stimulus-driven Reaction. The second question was whether the same components could be found in a group of patients with CHI. The pattern of attentional functions found in healthy subjects had changed qualitatively in patients with CHI. A possible explanation for this result in terms of a shift from automatic to controlled processing is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychology, Groningen State University, The Netherlands. j.m.spikman@med.rug.nl
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Spikman
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Kiers
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Deelman
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: van Zomeren
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D016489:Head Injuries, Closed / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D015203:Reproducibility of Results