Decision making in children with ADHD only, ADHD-anxious/depressed, and control children using a child version of the Iowa Gambling Task.
OBJECTIVE
The goal of this study is to investigate decision making in children with ADHD using a child version of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The effect of internalizing symptoms is also of interest.


METHODS
Twenty-one children with ADHD (high anxiety/depression and no anxiety/depression) are compared to an age- and sex-matched control group on the gambling task. Children in the ADHD-alone group demonstrate impaired performance on the IGT. In contrast, children in the control group and the ADHD-anxiety/depression group learn to choose more from the advantageous decks over time.


RESULTS
These findings of impaired decision making in children with ADHD parallel findings of real-life decision-making problems in this population.


CONCLUSIONS
Furthermore, the findings suggest that having a high number of internalizing symptoms leads to better performance for children with ADHD on this variant of the IGT.
Garon
Nancy
N
Autism Research Centre, Dalhousie University, Nova, Canada. nancy.garon@iwk.nshealth.ca
Moore
Chris
C
Waschbusch
Daniel A
DA
D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003657:Decision Making; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling; D006801:Humans; D007484:Iowa; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors