Subtests

Alertness is the general state of wakefulness that allows a person to react quickly and appropriately to concrete demands. It is the prerequisite for adequate action and thus represents the basis of any attentional performance.

Intrinsic alertness is measured with a single-response task. Two aspects are of interest here: the mean reaction time and the variability of the reaction time.

In this test, a witch appears in a window and is to be ""chased away"" as quickly as possible

In this task the effortful maintenance of selective attention over a longer span of time is tested. In contrast to vigilance, where performance requires the detection of infrequent stimuli that are hard to discriminate and are presented under experimental conditions of extreme monotony, the demands with sustained attention are more complex. So the conditions of sustained attention or concentration are more characteristic of the demands of daily life.

This task requires the comparison of a stimulus with a subsequent stimulus in order to determine whether these two stimuli have a predetermined stimulus feature in common. The stimuli to be compared are ghosts of different color that appear consecutively at different windows of a castle ruin. This procedure places demands on working memory and flexibility, and in a more complex variant, on the ability to divide attention, since two of the stimulus aspects has to be observed.

The ability to maintain selective attention for a longer period of time under vigilant conditions entails a very specific performance, because it involves not only the ability to maintain the focus of attention over a protracted period of time, one also has to be resistant to the monotonous conditions of the examination.

This is a vigilance test in a narrower sense. The task requires a response to a relatively infrequent critical stimulus that is a hard to discriminate. A ghost appears in the middle of the monitor (in a mirror) at regular time intervals and is replaced from time to time by a ghost with lightly reddened eyes. On detection of the red eyes the key should be pressed as quickly as possible.

Exploring the visual field, that is, visual scanning is a relatively complex achievement: it not only requires intact gaze control and the ability to spatially orientate attention, but also the ability to systematically scan the surroundings for relevant information. This requires the ability to intentionally control the direction of attentional focus and to plan behavior systematically.

In this task, one will see a group of witches flying on their brooms in one direction. Occasionally a witch makes a mistake and flies in the wrong direction. This error has to be detected. The left key (key 1) should be pressed when a critical stimulus is detected. The right key (key 2) should be pressed when no critical stimulus is present.

There are two variants of this test, a simple (more easy to discriminate) and a difficult (more difficult to discriminate) one.

One of the fundamental aspects of focused attention is the ability to intentionally maintain control over the focus of attention in complex situations and under distracting conditions. Younger children in particular stand out because of their high level of distractibility, through which they frequently loose sight of their goals from one moment to the next when something else captures their attention. A low degree of distractibility is therefore an important prerequisite for concentrated work and is of particular importance for schoolchildren.

The purpose of this test is to perform a centrally presented decision task, while in half the trials a distracting stimulus appears in the periphery of the visual field. The central stimulus, a cheerful or sad ghost, is designed so that the distinction between cheerful and sad is only possible by focusing visually.

A common experience in daily life is that of paying attention to a number of things or events at once. This requires the ability to divide attention between simultaneously occurring processes.

In the present test a sequence of acoustic and visual stimuli have to be observed simultaneously in order to respond to the critical acoustic or visual stimulus by pressing a key. One sees an owl sitting in a window which closes its eyes from time to time. This change should be reacted to. Simultaneously two owls calling each other can be heard in the background. If an anomaly appears, it should be also reacted to.

This test is available in a simple and complex version."

Selective attention refers not only to the ability to direct attention toward single events and stimuli but also to redirect attentional focus according to the current demands of a situation. The term "flexibility" is used to refer to the ability to intentionally regulate and redirect the focus of attention.

In this test two dragons of different color (green and blue) appear to the left and right of the center of the monitor (a gate) simultaneously. The target stimuli alternate: to begin with, the key has to be pressed on the side at which the green dragon appears. At the next presentation, the key has to be pressed on the side at which the blue dragon appears.

Attention comprises not only the control processes through which we take in information from the environment, but equally the control of our reactions and of our behavior. This includes the decision as to whether and how we should react as well as the continual, e.g. visuomotor, control of actions. One of the fundamental processes in this connection is the control of impulsive behavior, that is, the ability to suppress an inappropriate reaction.

The simplest way to measure impulsive reaction tendencies is by means of the so-called Go/Nogo task.

In this test one sees either a vampire bat or a cat, whereas only the bat should be reacted to.