WORKING-MEMORY IN INDIVIDUALS WITH HIV-INFECTION

The central executive component (CE) of Baddeley's working memory mode l (Baddeley, 1992) was evaluated in 26 asymptomatic human immunodefici ency virus-infected individuals (HIV+) and 23 HIV-control subjects usi ng a dual-task working memory paradigm. The HIV+ and HIV- groups showe d an equivalent reduction in performance on both the primary task (vis ual vigilance) and the secondary task (letter span) when they were per formed concurrently relative to when either task was performed alone. This result suggested normal CE functioning in these HIV+ subjects. In contrast, the HIV+ subjects had significantly longer response latenci es on reaction time measures relative to the HIV- control group. These findings indicated that slowed processing in early stage HIV-infected individuals is not associated with a working memory deficit.