Evaluating patients' cognitive performance with the Attention Diagnostic Method

The Attention Diagnostic Method (ADM), J. Rutten's adaptation of the Grünbaum test, is a valuable test for research in mild cognitive impairment. It offers the opportunity of evaluating attention,sequencing, mental flexibility, and visual search, independent of the patient's motor coordination capacities. The ADM is administered in two parts. First the patient is shown a screen with an array of 50 two-digit numbers with different colors for each number. The patient is requested to look up the numbers in their numerical order and to name both the number and its color. Secondly, when another screen is shown, the patient is requested to look up numbers in numerical order, to name the color of each number, and to name another number printed smaller below it. We compared test behavior of 81 young schizophrenic patients with the performance of 81 healthy controls matched for gender, age, and education. Patients took longer to complete both parts of the ADM and made more errors. Changes in attention over time appeared to be similar for both groups. The ADM is a valuable test for evaluating impairments of attention and working memory in schizophrenia.