title: Cognitive engagement and story comprehension in typically developing children and children with ADHD from preschool through elementary school.
abstract: The present study examined children's cognitive engagement with television as a function of the continuity of central or incidental content and whether this varied with age and clinical status. In Experiment 1, 9- to 11-year-old children's response times on a secondary task were slower the later a probe occurred in a sequence of central events, and response times predicted recall. Experiment 2 extended these results to 6- to 8-year-old children. Experiment 3 revealed that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) failed to show the pattern consistently observed for comparison children. The results support the hypothesis that typically developing children build a representation during viewing that reflects the causal structure of the televised story but that this skill is deficient in 4- to 9-year-old children with ADHD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. elorch@uky.edu
authors.forename: Elizabeth P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Lorch
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Milich
authors.forename: Clarese C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Astrin
authors.forename: Kristen S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Berthiaume
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013690:Television