title: Age-Related Changes in Distractibility: Developmental Trajectory of Sustained Attention in ADHD.
abstract: This study investigated age-related changes in sustained attention in children with ADHD and in their typically developed peers.
  
  
  
  The study used a Continuous Performance Test (CPT) that includes visual and auditory stimuli serving as distractors. The rate of omission errors was used as a measurement of difficulty in sustained attention. Participants were children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 years (478 with ADHD and 361 without ADHD).
  
  
  
  Both groups of adolescents (with and without ADHD) showed reduced distractibility than younger children from the same group. However, distractibility tended to diminish in non-ADHD adolescents, but not in adolescents with ADHD.
  
  
  
  Although part of the difficulties in ADHD could be explained by developmental delay that improves with time, other deficits, such as increased distractibility causing more omission errors, do not show a clear developmental trajectory. The results suggest that deficits in inhibitory control might be the core of ADHD.
authors: 1 Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors: Ortal
authors: O
authors: Slobodin
authors: 2 Leumit and Clalit HMO, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors: Hanoch
authors: H
authors: Cassuto
authors: 1 Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors: Itai
authors: I
authors: Berger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002658:Developmental Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014796:Visual Perception
keywords: ADHD; CPT; adolescents; age; assessment; development; distractibility