Developmental and individual differences in children's on-line representations of dynamic social events

Developmental and clinical differences in children's on-line understanding of ongoing social events were examined. Boys with (n = 38) and without (n = 41) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) were compared. Prior s ocial schemes and integrative processes were hypothesized to influence chil dren's representation of incoming social cues. Younger children and childre n with ADHD were expected to differ from older children and children withou t ADHD, respectively, in what they encoded and how they organized the encod ed information. Differences in on-line representation were postulated to un derlie differences in children's recall and social reasoning. Children's pr ior social schemes, looking time and on-line verbal protocols, recall, and social reasoning were assessed. Younger boys and ADHD boys showed less inte grated on-line representations, accounting for poorer recall and reasoning.