SUSTAINED AND SELECTIVE ATTENTION IN BOYS WITH ATTENTION-DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

Attempted to clarify the nature of the sustained and selective attenti on deficits implicated in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD HD). Specifically, performance on the Continuous Performance Test (CPT , Sergeant & van der Meere, 1990) and speeded classification task was assessed for a group of 7- to 12-year-old ADHD boys and their same-age d normal peers. Results of the CPT indicated that both perceptual sens itivity and omission errors increased over time for the ADHD boys to a greater degree than for the control boys, findings indicative of a su stained attention deficit. Results of the speeded classification task indicated that ADHD children's performance was not as efficient as nor mal children. However, there was no evidence for a selective attention deficit. Findings are discussed in terms of a process-energy model of attention.