NEUROBEHAVIORAL PERFORMANCE OF ADULTS WITH CLOSED-HEAD INJURY, ADULTSWITH ATTENTION-DEFICIT, AND CONTROLS

The symptoms experienced by people with mild closed-head injury (mCHI) and by people with attention deficit disorder (ADD) are similar in ma ny aspects. We examined the performance of 26 adults with mCHI, 23 adu lts with ADD, and 25 matched controls on four functional areas: (1) si mple motor response, (2) response speed and attention, (3) complex per ceptual-motor performance, and (4) memory and learning. Analyses of va riance and multivariate analyses of variance were used to compare the performance of the three groups. Test results were also plotted to exa mine patterns of performance and similarities between the groups. Both groups with mCHI and ADD had significantly more difficulty than contr ols with sustained attention. However, whereas the group with mCHI was characterized by generalized slowness in their response times, the gr oup with ADD was characterized by impulsivity or an inability to regul ate their attention and responses.