title: Effort Allocation in Children With ADHD: Abnormal Decision-Making or Poor Execution?
abstract: Objective:Effort allocation is a multi-faceted process driving both the decision to choose a high effort-high reward alternative over a low effort-low reward alternative, and the execution of this decision by recruiting sufficient effort. The objectives of our study were to examine whether children with ADHD would (a) show different reward-effort cost trade-off, and (b) have difficulty executing their decision.Method:50 children, aged 9 to 15, with and without ADHD, had to choose between high effort-high reward and low effort-low reward alternatives using a handheld dynamometer and to execute their choice.Results:Children with ADHD and controls made similar number of high-effort choices (p= .806). However, children with ADHD executed their high-effort choices less frequently compared with controls (p= .029).Conclusion:These findings suggest that children with ADHD are not characterized by different effort-reward trade-off but rather by difficulties in recruiting effort for their preferences implementation.
authors.affiliation: 1 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.affiliation: 2 Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Hilla
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ben-Pazi
authors.affiliation: 1 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Yehuda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pollak
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; D002648:Child; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D012201:Reward
keywords: ADHD; decision-making; effort allocation; reward