Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common disabling neurological disease affecting
young and middle-aged adults (Arnett, 2003). It is only in recent years however that
the influence of cognitive impairment as a causal factor in disability in MS has been
recognised. Despite clinical recognition and anecdotal reports of attentional
difficulties the status of attention in MS arguably remains unclear with inconsistent
findings in the research literature. The impact of sustained attention was discerned
from other theoretical types of attention and the assessment of it provided the focus
for study.The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) was developed for using with the
traumatic brain-injured population and is purported to be a sensitive and valid
measure of sustained attention. The main aim of the study was to investigate whether
performance on it could be replicated with an MS population. The principal
hypothesis stated that there would be a significant difference between a sample of MS
patients and a healthy control group across attentional measures. The Lottery and
Elevator Counting subtests from the Test of Everyday Attention, the Symbol Digits
Modalities Test formed the main assessment tools used. Another aim of the study was
to determine how well performance on these tests predicted everyday cognitive
functioning, as measured by the self and informant-reported Cognitive Failures
Questionnaire.The results demonstrated that sustained attention deficits were indeed a part of the
cognitive profile in this sample of MS patients. In its current format performance on
the SART was not found to be a valid measure for using with the MS population. The
other three attentional tests were however able to discern a significant difference in
performance between the two groups. Performance on these test were also found to
significantly correlated with and hence be predictive of everyday cognitive
functioning as measured by the informant-reported Cognitive Failures Questionnaire
