LE3 .A278 1998

1998

Brodeur, Darlene

Acadia University

Master of Science

Masters

Clinical Psychology

Psychology

The present study investigated whether children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) were less able to ignore distracters while attending to relevant information than children without ADHD. In addition, the influence of development and methylphenidate on selective attention were studied in a sample of children with ADHD. Twenty-four children with ADHD (12 younger, 12 older) and 32 Control children (14 younger, 18 older) were tested using a timed computer task. The task consisted of identifying target stimuli under seven distracter conditions (no distracter, visual distracters (meaningful or unmeaningful), auditory distracters (meaningful or unmeaningful), or visual and auditory distracters (meaningful or unmeaningful)). Reaction times and accuracy were measured. Children with ADHD were less efficient on the selective attention task than children without ADHD. When children with ADHD were on methylphenidate they performed more efficiently on the task than they performed without medication. Also, when on methylphenidate younger children reached and even surpassed the efficiency of the control group. Older children in both groups were more efficient than younger children in each group. The implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations for future work are proposed.

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