Measurement of visual sustained attention in schizophrenia using signal detection analysis and a newly developed computerized CPT task.

Sustained attention in schizophrenia was assessed with a newly developed, computer-controlled, modified version of the continuous performance test in which specific attentional effects can be empirically distinguished from nonspecific factors by signal detection theory (SDT). Results indicated that patients showed a more rapid decline in specific attentional, but not nonspecific processes, as measured by SDT parameters of A' and B", respectively.