Task: The ability to divide attention will be examined with a dual task, in which sequences of

events are to be attended to simultaneously. In the present test a sequence of auditive and
visual stimuli have to be observed simultaneously in order to respond to the critical acoustic
or visual stimulus by pressing a key.
Reactions with key .1.
Attention: With some systems, the output of the sounds of this test does not
function with
the real-time priority mode. In this case, it is necessary to change from real-time
to high
priority. In the menu .Options. select for .Real-time priority. the condition .For all
tests
without acoustic stimuli.. Under this condition, it is absolutely necessary to
ensure that no
other program is running in the background because this could otherwise affect
the correct
measurement of RT while carrying out this test.
Task time (without pre-test and instruction): 4,5 minutes.
Instruction suggestion: The owls keep watch that nobody enters while the ghosts roam in the
castle. One owl sits at a window and watches that nobody comes while two others fly around
outside and call to each other. But sometimes the owls get tired, in which case the eyes of the
owl watching at the window close and one of the other two owls must call twice to have a
response of the other. When this happens the owls should be woken up quickly!
Result output: Mean, median and standard deviation of reaction times will be presented for
the auditive and visual stimuli as well as for the whole test, and the number of misses and
false reactions can be viewed. Normative values will be shown for the median and the
standard deviation of reaction time, and for the misses and false reactions of the whole test.
Interpretation: Essential indicator for the division of attention in this test procedure is the
number of missed signals in one or both sensory modalities. The number of false reactions is
also indicative of inadequate divided attention. Reaction speed is of secondary importance in
this procedure. Normative values are provided for the total performance and not for the
sensory modalities, that is, auditive and visual. In interpreting performance it is however
important to note whether the auditory or visual modality is being attended to, or whether
critical stimuli in both sensory modalities have been missed.
1.2.6 Sustained attention (The ghosts. ball)
In the model from van Zomeren und Brouwer (1994) sustained attention is regarded as
belonging to the aspect of attentional intensity. Sustained attention involves the effortful
maintenance of selective attention over a longer span of time. It is however important to
differentiate between sustained attention in the narrower sense and vigilance. Very often
sustained attention is equated with vigilance (e.g. Parasuraman, 1984, Coull et al., 1996). But
there are differences between them that concern not only differences in the choice of task for
measuring performance of the two, but also differences in the kind of cognitive performance
itself as well as in the processes that underpin this performance. In the case of vigilance,
performance requires the detection of infrequent stimuli that are hard to discriminate and are
presented under experimental conditions of extreme monotony. An important feature in
performing vigilance tasks is the vigilance decrement (Parasuraman, Warm & See, 1998), that
is, the decline in detection performance during the course of the examination.
In contrast, sustained attention is required in situations in which information has to be
processed continually over longer periods of time. One could regard such performance as a
matter of .concentration.. Continually directing ones attention in this way is important, for
instance, when listening, as required in school lessons. Concentrating in this case refers not
only to understanding what has been said, it also concerns the depth of processing, which,
according to the model from Craik und Lockhart (1972) and the findings of many
investigations based on this model, is an important prerequisite for memorising perceived
information
The conditions of sustained attention or concentration are more characteristic of the demands
of daily life than is a .pure. vigilance task, and it may be assumed that these corresponding
tasks have a higher predictive validity. This has been shown in an investigation by Berberich
(1996) in patients with brain damage for the capacity to return at work.
Task: This task requires the comparison of a stimulus with a subsequent stimulus in order to
determine whether these two stimuli have a predetermined stimulus feature in common. The
stimuli to be compared are ghosts of different colour that appear consecutively at different
windows of a castle ruin. This procedure places demands on working memory and flexibility,

and in a more complex variant, on the ability to divide attention, since two of the stimulus
aspects has to be observed.
Reactions with key .1.
There are two variants of this procedure, with different levels of difficulty:
- Variant .colour. (simple test variant, normed): This task requires the detection of two
ghosts appearing in the same colour consecutively,
- Variant .colour or position. (complex test variant, not normed): This test requires a
response when either two ghosts of the same colour appear consecutively or two ghosts
of any colour appear at the same position consecutively.
Test duration (without pre-test and instruction): 10 minutes.
Instruction suggestion: Ghosts appear one after another at the windows of the haunted castle
during their dance. The ghosts have different colours and appear every time at a different
window. But be careful: sometimes they get confused and two ghosts appear one after another
in the same colour (condition: colour, normed).
Alternative: (Condition: colour and position, not normed): But be careful: sometimes they get
confused and two ghosts of the same colour appear one after another or two ghosts appear at
same window one after another.

Rey Complex Test and Figure Test and Recognition Trial (ROCFT;
Meyers and Meyers,
1995): This test measures visual memory capacity