In order to control for possible cognitive factors that may influence the performance on the task neuropsychological testing comprising attention [50], executive functions [51] and IQ [52] was administered.
Attention control refers to the individuals' capacity to selectively attend some stimuli while ignoring others [ 63] which hence comprises selective attention and sustained attention, defined as the ability to voluntarily maintain the focus of attention to infrequently occurring critical events [ 64].
Among the 11 questions comprising the attention domain in the CBCL, only three capture symptoms of inattention ("Can't concentrate, can't pay attention for long", "Daydreams or gets lost in his/her thoughts", and "Stares blankly").
The active element is comprised of attention solely on breathing.
The CDR tests selected for this study comprised three attention tests: simple reaction time, digit vigilance and choice reaction time; two working memory tasks: Spatial Working Memory and Numeric Working Memory; and three episodic memory tasks: immediate and delayed word recognition and picture recognition.
Spatial attention comprises both, exogenous (externally-driven, bottom-up, involuntary, automatic) and endogenous (internally-driven, top-down, voluntary, non automatic) mechanisms.
A group of adolescents that requires special attention comprises those living in urban poor communities.
We used a blocked spatial attention task, comprising sustained covert visuospatial attention to checkerboards in one or other hemifield during successive bilateral stimuli or a more "neutral" baseline task (see below) during the same stimuli (see Fig. 1).
It comprises items testing orientation, attention, memory, language and constructive abilities.
The SKAMP-A subscale is a measure of attention and comprises the following 4 items on the SKAMP scale: getting started on assignments, sticking with tasks, attending to an activity, and making activity transitions [ 14, 19].
