Attention network test: Assessment of cognitive function in CFS

[Firestormm]

Attention network test: Assessment of cognitive function in chronic fatigue syndrome

1. Fumiharu Togo1,*,
2. Gudrun Lange2,3,
3. Benjamin H. Natelson4,
4. Karen S. Quigley3,5

Article first published online: 24 SEP 2013
Journal of Neuropsychology

Information processing difficulties are common in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). It has been shown that the time it takes to process a complex cognitive task, rather than error rate, may be the critical variable underlying CFS patients' cognitive complaints.

The Attention Network Task (ANT) developed by Fan and colleagues may be of clinical utility to assess cognitive function in CFS, because it allows for simultaneous assessment of mental response speed, also called information processing speed, and error rate under three conditions challenging the attention system.

Comparison of data from two groups of CFS patients (those with and without comorbid major depressive disorder; n = 19 and 22, respectively) to controls (n = 29) consistently showed that error rates did not differ among groups across conditions, but speed of information processing did.

Processing time was prolonged in both CFS groups and most significantly affected in response to the most complex task conditions. For simpler tasks, processing time was only prolonged in CFS participants with depression.

The data suggest that the ANT may be a task that could be used clinically to assess information processing deficits in individuals with CFS.

© 2013 The British Psychological Society.

KEYWORDS:

Attention Network Task, chronic fatigue syndrome, cognition, depression, information processing

PMID: 24112872 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

 

[Esther12]

I hate 'liking' stuff which is bad!

 

[aimossy]

I'ts nice to see a Neuropsych assessment study, I hope to see more of these popping up.

 

[Bob]

I hate 'liking' stuff which is bad!

This study doesn't strike me as particularly bad. Actually, I think the abstract is quite good/helpful. What have I missed?

The results (speed of processing issues) seem to fit with this meta-analysis:

Psychol Med. 2010 Aug;40(8):1253-67. doi: 10.1017/S0033291709992054. Epub 2010 Jan 5.
Cognitive functioning in chronic fatigue syndrome: a meta-analysis.
Cockshell SJ, Mathias JL.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20047703

"Conclusions Persons with CFS demonstrate moderate to large impairments in simple and complex information processing speed and in tasks requiring working memory over a sustained period of time."

 

[Esther12]

I just meant that I really dislike being able to think less quickly than I could. Not a comment on the study.

This study doesn't strike me as particularly bad. Actually, I think the abstract is quite good/helpful. What have I missed?

 

[Dolphin]

I read the full text of this. It didn't say anything I would object to. Results seem reasonable enough.

Occasionally the odd psych suggests motivation made partly or fully explain poor results*. These authors didn't think this was relevant here:

We also note that one potential confounder, namely lack of effort, does not appear to explain the current results. Lack of effort would manifest itself in decreases in RT combined with increases in error rates over time. CFS patients showed neither of these effects over three blocks in the flanker task, RT for CFS alone: first block, 699
148 ms; second block, 678
178 ms; third block, 700
199 ms; F(2, 36) = 1.26, p > .05, error rate for CFS alone: first block, 0.60
1.06%; second block, 0.82
1.37%; third block, 1.10
1.79%; F(2, 36) = 1.04, p > .05. Because these motivational factors cannot explain the results, slowed information processing speed in CFS patients might indicate that they have to work harder than healthy individuals to complete the same task.

*often this is at the level of the individual but they don't seem to have done any calculations to check at an individual level i.e. one/two/x might show poor motivation without everyone doing so.