Visual sustained attention in a child psychiatric population

Objective: To increase knowledge of the diversity and specificity of sustai ned attention deficits in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity dis order (ADHD), with special reference to the issue of distinguishing between children with ADHD and children with other psychiatric diagnoses. Method: A Visual sustained attention task was used to compare 52 boys with ADHD wit h 55 normal controls, 29 boys with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder (ODD/CD), 29 boys with anxiety or dysthymia (ANX/DYS), 43 boys wi th pervasive developmental disorder, 24 boys with ADHD plus ODD/CD, and 14 boys with ADHD plus ANX/DYS. Results: Compared with normal controls, childr en with ADHD were slower, were more inaccurate, were more impulsive, were l ess responsive to feedback, and showed less perceptual sensitivity and stab ility of performance, resulting in a marked decrease in vigilance over time . Unresponsiveness to feedback and the extent of the decrease in Vigilance during time on task were found to be the only factors that distinguished ch ildren with ADHD from children with other diagnoses. Conclusion: Although o nly children with ADHD are characterized primarily by "attention deficit" s ustained attention deficit is common to a certain extent to all children wi th psychiatric disorders.