Learning disability: an inability to sustain attention.
Administered a complex reaction time task to 47 learning-disabled and 41 control children, aged 8 to 10 1/2. The preparatory interval between a warning and act light was manipulated for length and regularity. Groups differed only as a function of number of trials. It appears that the inability to sustain attention over time, rather than momentary inattentiveness, distinguished the two groups.
D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time