GLOBAL-LOCAL ANALYSIS IN HIV-1 INFECTION

One hundred twenty-one HIV-seropositive (HIV+) individuals and 85 sero negative controls performed a divided-attention task that engaged auto matic and controlled attentional processing. Reaction times (RTs) to g lobal and local targets that varied in probability were measured in 2 conditions. A neutral condition where global and local targets were eq ually probable was included as baseline. Participants showed expected tradeoffs in RTs as a function of target-level probability, with longe r RTs to less probable targets and shorter RTs to more probable target s. However, the HIV+ group showed significantly greater costs compared with controls. Results are consistent with previous findings that HIV + individuals are selectively impaired on tasks of controlled attentio nal processing, particularly under conditions of divided attention.