title: Attention deficit disorder with and without hyperactivity: reaction time and speed of cognitive processing.
abstract: This study addressed the issue as to whether children reliably diagnosed as attention deficit disordered with hyperactivity (ADD/H) and without hyperactivity (ADD/WO) differed significantly from each other and a clinic control (CC) population on speed and efficiency of cognitive processing. From an outpatient clinic population, 43 ADD/H and 22 ADD/WO children were examined. An analysis of mean reaction time and speeded classification task performance revealed significant group effects on both mean reaction time and on a measure of within-subject variability. ADD/H children performed significantly more slowly and variably than the CC children on several of the speeded classification tasks. However, the ADD/WO group was not distinguished on any measure. Thus, while children may be reliably diagnosed as ADD/H or ADD/WO using behavioral measures, it would appear that they cannot be distinguished on these neurocognitive tasks. Issues related to childhood psychopathology and the neuropsychological basis of ADD/H are discussed.
authors: G W
authors: GW
authors: Hynd
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Nieves
authors: R T
authors: RT
authors: Connor
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Stone
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Town
authors: M G
authors: MG
authors: Becker
authors: B B
authors: BB
authors: Lahey
authors: A R
authors: AR
authors: Lorys
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time