대한수면의학회

Attention is not defined sufficiently. This term incorporates several dimensions or complex information processes such as alertness, spatial distribution, focused attention, sustained attention, divided attention and supervisory attentional control. In practice, however, various aspects of attention cannot be assessed separately with a single test. Moreover, a particular test is never assessing attention only, because the several intervening variables may influence the attentional component. Therefore, one can only assess a certain aspect of human behavior with special interest for its attentional component. This paper attempted to clarify various concepts of attention, reviewed signal detection theories with receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curves, and listed practical methods for assessment of attention.

Attention;Signal detection theory;Receiver operating characteristic curve;