CLINICAL SENSITIVITY OF 4 MEASURES OF ATTENTION TO MILD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

The percentage of mild traumatic brain-injury patients receiving impai red scores was determined for four neuropsychological measures of atte ntion: Digit Span, Trail Making Test, Paced Auditory Serial Addition t est (PASAT), and an auditory Continuous Performance Test of Attention (CPTA). Sensitivity was also determined based on overall criteria for multiple measures. Significant variability among the attention measure s was apparent, with patients more likely to demonstrate impaired perf ormance on the PASAT and CPTA. This appeared due to the interaction of demands upon information processing speed and capacity in response to externally paced stimuli. The results are relevant to concerns regard ing the clinical interpretation of neuropsychological measures of atte ntion.