COGNITIVE-FUNCTIONING IN SYDENHAMS CHOREA .1. ATTENTIONAL PROCESSES

Ten patients with Sydenham's chorea, ages 7 to 15 years, were tested o n a computerized battery of tasks assessing attentional processing. Re lative to controls, the patients with Sydenham's chorea showed decreme nts in performance on tasks assessing response inhibition and divided attention. However, normal attentional functioning was observed on tas ks assessing spatial attention, sustained attention, and shifts in att entional set. These results are discussed in relation to deficits obse rved in patients of other basal ganglia disorders.