Alphanumeric sequencing : a report on a brief measure of information processing used among persons with multiple sclerosis

• Published in: Perceptual and motor skills Vol. 78; no. 3; pp. 883 - 887
• Main Authors: GRIGSBY, J, KAYE, K, BUSENBARK, D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Missoula, MT Perceptual and Motor Skills 01-06-1994; Perceptual and Motor Skills, etc; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adult; Attention; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Damage, Chronic - diagnosis; Brain Damage, Chronic - psychology; Cognition & reasoning; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Recall; Middle Aged; Multiple sclerosis; Multiple Sclerosis - classification; Multiple Sclerosis - psychology; Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data; Patients; Perceptual Masking; Problem Solving; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reference Values; Reproducibility of Results; Serial Learning; Social research; Techniques and methods; Short term; Human; Nervous system diseases; Multiple sclerosis; Cognitive disorder; Memory; Psychometrics; Recurrent; Velocity; Inflammatory disease; Progressive; Chronic; Central nervous system disease; Information processing; Measurement method; Performance; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0031-5125; 1558-688X
• DOI: 10.1177/003151259407800341

Alphanumeric Sequencing involves the alternating recitation of counting and the alphabet. We report data on the use of this measure with two clinical samples of persons with multiple sclerosis, having either the chronic progressive (n = 23) or relapsing-remitting form (n = 52) of the disease. Patients were administered Alphanumeric Sequencing and several other tests of information-processing speed/capacity and short-term memory. Chronic progressive MS patients performed worse than 23 healthy controls on both the speed and error components of the test, while relapsing-remitting patients were worse than 35 controls only on the total time to complete the task. The time score was correlated with several measures of information processing and short-term memory.