Construct Validity of Concepts of Attention in Healthy Controls and Patients with CHI

The present study aimed to examine the construct validity of three aspects of attention, namely focused, divided, and supervisory control of attention. Factor-analytic techniques were applied to scores of healthy subjects on a series of neuropsychological tests tapping these aspects of attention. The two components found did not match the hypothesized aspects and were labeled as Memory-driven Action and Stimulus-driven Reaction. The second question was whether the same components could be found in a group of patients with CHI. The pattern of attentional functions found in healthy subjects had changed qualitatively in patients with CHI. A possible explanation for this result in terms of a shift from automatic to controlled processing is discussed.