Speed of Mental Operations in Fibromyalgia: A Selective Naming Speed Deficit - Source: Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, Jul 17, 2008

Speed of Mental Operations in Fibromyalgia: A Selective Naming Speed Deficit - Source: Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, Jul 17, 2008: "Objective: Abnormal processing of information in fibromyalgia may hold clues to brain abnormalities in this illness.

The purpose of this study is to examine the speed of mental operations in people with the fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) under the pressure of time.
The central question addresses whether FMS is associated with processing speed deficits across a spectrum of speeded tasks."

The researchers found that "more than 49% of FMS patients tested as impaired (>1.67 SD below normative mean) on 2 specific validated speed tasks (reading words and naming colors)"

I know my word recognition function is getting worse all the time and finding words has been a problem for some time. . .

The article concludes "Abnormalities in naming speed are an unappreciated feature of FMS.

Selective deficits in naming speed in association with otherwise well preserved global processing speed set patients with FMS apart from controls with memory complaints.

Clinicians would be wise to specifically request adding a rapid naming test such as the Stroop Test to the cognitive battery; to document cognitive dysfunction in FMS patients who otherwise appear to test normally, despite often intense complaints of memory and concentration difficulties that can affect job performance and increase disability."

Try the stroop test here: I will later today...

Tiscali - Stroop: "The Stroop Test was devised by John Ridley Stroop to challenge the way we react when given two conflicting signals.
This area is located in the area of the brain called the anterior cingulate (thought processes and emotional responses).

The test also challenges the cognitive mechanism (called inhibition) which means we have to stop one response and say or do something else.

For example if the word red is written in yellow we will be more likely to say the word red than the colour in which the word appears (yellow).

The test asks you to say out loud the colour you see and not the word you read. It sounds easy but it's much harder than you think"