1. The Attention Network Test-Interaction (ANT-I): reliability and validity in healthy older adults.
- Author
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Ishigami Y, Eskes GA, Tyndall AV, Longman RS, Drogos LL, and Poulin MJ
- Subjects
- Acoustic Stimulation methods, Acoustic Stimulation standards, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Brain physiology, Cohort Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Photic Stimulation methods, Prospective Studies, Reaction Time physiology, Reproducibility of Results, Aging physiology, Attention physiology, Executive Function physiology, Orientation physiology
- Abstract
The Attention Network Test (ANT) is a frequently used computer-based tool for measuring the three attention networks (alerting, orienting, and executive control). We examined the psychometric properties of performance on a variant of the ANT, the Attention Network Test-Interaction (ANT-I) in healthy older adults (N = 173; mean age = 65.4, SD = 6.5; obtained from the Brain in Motion Study, Tyndall et al. BMC Geriatr 13:21, 2013. doi: 10.1186/1471-2318-13-21) to evaluate its usefulness as a measurement tool in both aging and clinical research. In terms of test reliability, split-half correlation analyses showed that all network scores were significantly reliable, although the strength of the correlations varied across networks as seen before (r = 0.29, 0.70, and 0.68, for alerting, orienting, and executive networks, respectively, p's < 0.05). In terms of construct validity, ANOVAs confirmed that each network score was significant (18.3, 59.4, and 109.2 ms for the alerting, orienting, and executive networks, respectively, p's < 0.01) and that these scores were generally independent from each other. Importantly, for criterion validity, a series of hierarchical linear regressions showed that the executive network score, in addition to demographic information, was a significant predictor of performance on tests of conflict resolution as well as verbal memory and retrieval (β = -0.165 and -0.184, p's < 0.05, respectively). These results provide new information regarding the reliability and validity of ANT-I test performance in a healthy older adult population. The results provide insights into the psychometrics of the ANT-I and its potential utility in clinical research settings.
- Published
- 2016
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