Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test
Encyclopedia
Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) is a neuropsychological test
, used to assess capacity and rate of information processing and sustained and divided attention .
Originally the test was known as the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT). The subjects are given in the version used as part of the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite a number every 3 seconds and are asked to add the number they just heard with the number they heard before. This is a challenging task that involves working memory
, attention and arithmetic capabilities. Versions with numbers presented every 2 seconds are also available. The original version presented the numbers every 2.4 seconds with 0.4 decrements for subsequent trials. The PASAT was originally developed for use in evaluating patients with head injury
. The advantage in this population was supposed to be minimal practice effects. This test has been widely used in other conditions besides traumatic brain injury
. It has become widely used in the testing of patients with multiple sclerosis
as patients with this disease frequently have an impaired performance on this test. The PASAT was included in the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite as a cognitive measure. However, the use of the PASAT in clinical trial
s in MS it has shown to be problematic as there are significant practice effects over repeated measures; typically the effect of treatment is reflected by a larger improvement on the test compared to the control group.
Neuropsychological test
Neuropsychological tests are specifically designed tasks used to measure a psychological function known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway. Tests are used for research into brain function and in a clinical setting for the diagnosis of deficits. They usually involve the...
, used to assess capacity and rate of information processing and sustained and divided attention .
Originally the test was known as the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT). The subjects are given in the version used as part of the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite a number every 3 seconds and are asked to add the number they just heard with the number they heard before. This is a challenging task that involves working memory
Working memory
Working memory has been defined as the system which actively holds information in the mind to do verbal and nonverbal tasks such as reasoning and comprehension, and to make it available for further information processing...
, attention and arithmetic capabilities. Versions with numbers presented every 2 seconds are also available. The original version presented the numbers every 2.4 seconds with 0.4 decrements for subsequent trials. The PASAT was originally developed for use in evaluating patients with head injury
Head injury
Head injury refers to trauma of the head. This may or may not include injury to the brain. However, the terms traumatic brain injury and head injury are often used interchangeably in medical literature....
. The advantage in this population was supposed to be minimal practice effects. This test has been widely used in other conditions besides traumatic brain injury
Traumatic brain injury
Traumatic brain injury , also known as intracranial injury, occurs when an external force traumatically injures the brain. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism , or other features...
. It has become widely used in the testing of patients with multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
as patients with this disease frequently have an impaired performance on this test. The PASAT was included in the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite as a cognitive measure. However, the use of the PASAT in clinical trial
Clinical trial
Clinical trials are a set of procedures in medical research and drug development that are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions...
s in MS it has shown to be problematic as there are significant practice effects over repeated measures; typically the effect of treatment is reflected by a larger improvement on the test compared to the control group.