The Sustained Attention Test: a measure of attentional disturbance

Abstract

The Sustained Attention Test is a vigilance task designed to assess the ability of individuals with schizophrenia to sustain attention to visual stimuli. The task requires the subject to attend to two vertically adjacent squares on a computer monitor. Each square changes color at random intervals. The subject's task is to respond when the two adjacent squares become the same color. The resulting data provide a straightforward assessment of sustained attention, and are not confounded by processes such as perceptual organization, working memory, or context processing, which are required by many other vigilance tasks. The Sustained Attention Test had high test–retest reliability in a sample of chronic schizophrenia patients. In addition, test indices were strongly correlated with Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test indices of immediate memory span and total learning, and with learning and skill acquisition in a social skills training group. The Sustained Attention Test may be a useful tool for screening schizophrenia patients to determine who may be best able to attend to and learn new information in psychosocial treatments.