The Brief Test of Attention (BTA) is a test of attention based on Cooley and Morris’s conceptualization of attentional processes (Cooley and Morris 1990; Schretlen et al. 1996a). It was developed to be a pure measure auditory divided attention, and as such attempts to eliminate possible confounds of other attentional tasks such as motor and reasoning component (Schretlen et al. 1996a). It has also been suggested the BTA may be a useful embedded measure of cognitive effort (Busse and Whiteside 2012). The BTA has been used to assess attention in a variety of populations including Parkinson’s disease, sleep apnea, cancer, and traumatic brain injury (TBI; Aloia et al. 2003; Butler et al. 2008; Rao et al. 2010; Tröster et al. 1997; Wong 1999). Of note, the BTA is not intended to measure normal attention but instead to be a screening tool for attentional deficits (Schretlen 1997; Strauss et al. 2006). Additionally, the BTA does not assess visual attention (Strauss et al. 2006).
The BTA takes...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Aloia, M. S., Ilniczky, N., Di Dio, P., Perlis, M. L., Greenblatt, D. W., & Giles, D. E. (2003). Neuropsychological changes and treatment compliance in older adults with sleep apnea. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 54(1), 71–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3999(02)00548-2.
Busse, M., & Whiteside, D. (2012). Detecting suboptimal cognitive effort: Classification accuracy of the Conner’s continuous performance test-II, brief test of attention, and trail making test. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 26(4), 675–687. https://doi.org/10.1080/13854046.2012.679623.
Butler, R. W., Copeland, D. R., Fairclough, D. L., Mulhern, R. K., Katz, E. R., Kazak, A. E., Noll, R. B., Patel, S. K., & Sahler, O. J. Z. (2008). A multicenter, randomized clinical trial of a cognitive remediation program for childhood survivors of a pediatric malignancy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76(3), 367.
Cooley, E. L., & Morris, R. D. (1990). Attention in children: A neuropsychologically based model for assessment. Developmental Neuropsychology, 6(3), 239–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/87565649009540465.
Rao, V., Bertrand, M., Rosenberg, P., Makley, M., Schretlen, D. J., Brandt, J., & Mielke, M. M. (2010). Predictors of new-onset depression after mild traumatic brain injury. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 22(1), 100–104. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.22.1.100.
Rivera, D., Perrin, P. B., Aliaga, A., Garza, M. T., Saracho, C. P., Rodriguez, W., Justo-Guillen, E., Aguayo, A., Schebela, S., Gulin, S., Weil, C., Longoni, M., Ocampo-Barba, N., Galarza-del-Angel, J., Rodriguez, D., Esencarro, L., Garcia-Egan, P., Martinez, C., & Arango-Lasprilla, J. C. (2015). Brief test of attention: Normative data for the Latin American Spanish speaking adult population. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 37, 663–676.
Schretlen, D. (1997). Brief test of attention professional manual. Odessa: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Schretlen, D., Bobholz, J. H., & Brandt, J. (1996a). Development and psychometric properties of the brief test of attention. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 10(1), 80–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/13854049608406666.
Schretlen, D., Brandt, J., & Bobholz, J. H. (1996b). Validation of the brief test of attention in patients with Huntington’s disease and amnesia. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 10(1), 90–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/13854049608406667.
Strauss, E., Sherman, E. M. S., & Spreen, O. (2006). A compendium of neuropsychological tests: Administration, norms, and commentary. New York: Oxford University Press.
Tröster, A. I., Fields, J., Wilkinson, S., Pahwa, R., Miyawaki, E., Lyons, K., & Koller, W. (1997). Unilateral pallidal stimulation for Parkinson’s disease: Neurobehavioral functioning before and 3 months after electrode implantation. Neurology, 49(4), 1078–1083.
Wong, T. M. (1999). Validity and sensitivity of the brief test of attention with acute brain injury and mild head injury patients. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 14(8), 617–818. [Abstract].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
McLaren, M.E., Woods, A.J. (2018). Brief Test of Attention. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_9090
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_9090
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57110-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57111-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences