The Japanese journal of neuropsychology

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ArticleTitle	Divided attention disorder in a patient with multiple sclerosis
Language	J
AuthorList	Ayako Furukawa¹⁾, Hiromitsu Sasaki¹⁾, Kazu Amimoto¹⁾, Makoto Shiraishi²⁾, Hiroshi Sugihara²⁾
Affiliation	1) Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, St. Marianna University School of Medicine Hospital 2) Department of Neurology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine Hospital
Publication	Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 17 (2), 130-138, 2001
Received	Feb 29, 2000
Accepted	Nov 14, 2000
Abstract	A 17-year- old right -handed boy with multiple sclerosis (MS) exhibited impaired attention. MRI-FLAIR disclosed multiple lesions in the bilateral corona radiata and thalamus. Neuropsychological examination indicated that cognitive deficits were related to his impaired attention. Although his total IQ on the WAIS-R was within normal range, he had difficulty with many tasks in study and daily living such as taking notes and playing the violin. We attributed the core difficulty of this case to a divided attention disorder in which attention could not be shared between the two or more stimuli simultaneously. This suggests that his problems in daily life are not only caused by fatigue and slowness of information processing, but also by restriction of his ability to temporarily store and manipulate information.
Keywords	multiple sclerosis, divided attention, working memory