History
The T.O.V.A. test was developed in the 1960s by Dr. Lawrence Greenberg, Head of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota.
The first test used was a mechanical machine that could test response time. This test was named the VIRTEST (Test of Variability, Inattention, and Response Time). During the VIRTEST, a child would press a response button when a target was presented versus the non-target.
After individuals were diagnosed with ADHD from using the VIRTEST, Dr. Greenberg began experimentation with different medication to try developing an adequate treatment plan. The most common medications used in the trail included Dextroamphetamine (a stimulant), Chlorpromazine (an anti-psychotic), Hydroxyzine (a minor tranquilizer), and a Placebo. Upon the findings of this study Dr. Greenberg decided that using behavioral ratings, or the VIRTEST, alone was too subjective, and that the ratings themselves would be influenced by the testing environment, the raters bias, and external variables.
With the advance of computers, the T.O.V.A. was made commercially available in 1991.
Read more about this topic: Test Of Variables Of Attention
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“When we of the so-called better classes are scared as men were never scared in history at material ugliness and hardship; when we put off marriage until our house can be artistic, and quake at the thought of having a child without a bank-account and doomed to manual labor, it is time for thinking men to protest against so unmanly and irreligious a state of opinion.”
—William James (1842–1910)
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“The best history is but like the art of Rembrandt; it casts a vivid light on certain selected causes, on those which were best and greatest; it leaves all the rest in shadow and unseen.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)