The influence of "state" related factors on focused attention following Whiplash Associated Disorder

The modified Stroop task was presented to 48 patients with a Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD) and 48 healthy matched controls to investigate possible attentional impairments in relation to state related factors (headache, neck pain, fatigue, tension and state-anxiety). It was expected that performance on the Stroop task is negatively influenced by these state related variables. Confirming the expectations, the results showed that response latencies increase for Subtasks 1 through 4, for both groups. In addition, WAD patients performed significantly worse on all subtasks. There was a significant interaction between the two groups and the four subtasks. The results revealed signs for interference susceptibility or reduced capacity to shift attention on the modified Stroop task. The results concerning the influence of state variables indicated that the intensity of headache was significantly related (demonstrating a worsening) to Stroop task performance in the WAD-group. It was concluded that WAD patients exhibit a general slowing of information processing, especially on tasks that require controlled attention. There are signs for subtle deficits in focused attention. The intensity of headache seems to play an important influence on attentional functioning. Clinical implications are discussed.