The efficacy of game-like computerised adaptive training programmes for intensity aspects of attention (alertness and vigilance) and selectivity aspects of attention (selective and divided attention) was studied in patients with left or right focal brain damage of vascular aetiology. Each patient received consecutive training in the two most impaired of the four attention domains. Control tests were performed by means of a standardised computerised attention test battery comprising tests for the four attention functions. Assessment was carried out at the beginning and after each of two training periods of 14 one-hour sessions each. There were significant specific training effects for both intensity aspects (alertness and vigilance), and also for response time in the selective attention and error rate in the divided attention task. For selectivity aspects of attention, reaction time also improved after training of basic attention domains. The application of inferential single case procedures revealed not only a high degree of specific training effects in individual cases but also a substantial number of deteriorations in performance after non-specific training of basic attention problems by tasks requiring selectivity of attention. The results are discussed in the light of a hierarchical organisation of attention functions.

The efficacy of a computer-assisted reaction training on various attentional and cognitive functions was studied in stroke patients with lateralised cortical lesions. Patients were tested three times with a comprehensive test battery comprising several attention tests, as well as more general cognitive tasks, with the aim of separating training effects from spontaneous recovery and trivial practice effects. An additional follow-up assessment—carried out 6 weeks after the end of training—was employed to examine the stability of training effects. At baseline the right-hemisphere-damaged patients showed more pronounced impairments of sustained attention and vigilance, whereas the left-brain-damaged patients performed worse in choice reaction tasks, making more false-positive responses. Both groups showed significant training effects for a number of attention functions, but not for vigilance, and there was no generalisation of the training effects to more general cognitive functions. Overall, the training effects were less pronounced for the right-brain-damaged group.

Recently, a strong functional relationship between finger counting and number processing has been suggested. It has been argued that bodily experiences such as finger counting may influence the structure of the basic mental representations of numbers even in adults. However, to date it remains unclear whether the structure of finger counting systems also influences educated adults’ performance in mental arithmetic. In the present study, we pursued this question by examining finger-based sub-base-five effects in an addition production task. With the standard effect of a carry operation (i.e., base-10 crossing) being replicated, we observed an additional sub-base-five effect such that crossing a sub-base-five boundary led to a relative response time increase. For the case of mental arithmetic sub-base-five effects have previously been reported only in children. However, it remains unclear whether finger-based numerical effects in mental arithmetic reflect an important but transitory step in the development of arithmetical skills. The current findings suggest that even in adults embodied representations such as finger counting patterns modulate arithmetic performance. Thus, they support the general idea that even seemingly abstract cognition in adults may at least partly be rooted in our bodily experiences.