ABSTRACT

In order to be used profitably in clinical neuropsychological practice, tests must fulfil a number of requirements in terms of validity, reliability, ease of administration and sensitivity with pathological populations. With respect to these problems, attention is peculiar in at least two ways as compared to other cognitive functions, such as memory and language. One question concerns the nature of the measurement itself; a second question regards the historical development of tests of attention. A brief outline of these two issues follows.