Dj. Cox et al., Electroencephalographic and psychometric differences between boys with andwithout Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A pilot study, APPL PSY BI, 23(3), 1998, pp. 179-188
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is reported to have an inci
dence of 3-5%, and is associated with a variety of interpersonal, academic,
and social problem behaviors. There is controversy as To whether ADHD is a
learned behavioral or by ain dysfunction. Research has explored a variety
of measures to assess behavioral and brain dysfunctions in this population,
with no consistent and clearly diagnostic results. We investigated whether
a new psychometric and a new electroencephalographic procedure would clear
ly differentiate ADHD. The psychometric was based on DSM-IV criteria and th
e EEG measure was based on the assumption that ADHD interferes with cogniti
ve transition from one discrete task to another. Parents of four ADHD boys
(ages 8-12) and four age- and interest-matched non-ADHD boys completed the
ADHD Symptom Inventory, while their sons' EEG was monitored during viewing
of a video and reading of a book. For the ADHD boys, this was repeated a se
cond time, 3 months later, to assess test-retest reliability. Both the psyc
hometric and the EEG measures clearly differentiated the two samples (p's <
.01) with no overlap in scores, were reliable over 3 months (r =.87), and w
ere significantly correlated with one another (r =.85). While a small sampl
e size, these robust, related and reliable findings suggest that both the p
sychometric and the psychophysiological EEG measures deserve further replic
ation and exploration.