Attention and control deficits following closed head injury

This study was aimed at identifying the impaired attentional components in patients who had sustained a severe CHI several years before. A group of 14 CHI patients and a Control group (matched for age, sex and education) were tested. Experiment 1 used a dual-task paradigm (Umiltà et al., 1992). The double task-single task difference was greater for the CHI group, indicating a specific damage at a central executive stage where decision are made and responses are coordinated. Experiment 2 used a task-shifting paradigm (Morra and Roncato, 1986). The cost of shifting from one task to the other was greater for the CHI group, but only in the Short Series Condition where a new task-program could be pre-activated. Experiment 3 studied visual selective attention using Navon paradigm (1977); in this case, there was no difference between patients and controls.