WHEN IS IMPULSIVENESS NOT IMPULSIVE - THE CASE OF HYPERACTIVE CHILDRENS COGNITIVE-STYLE

On two computerized versions of the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MF FT; Kagan, Child Development, 36,609-628,1965) pervasively hyperactive and matched control children had to identify a target from among five similar foils. One version had a temporal structure similar to the ma nual MFFT and trial length was determined by response speed. Hyperacti ve children behaved in an ''impulsive' manner; they responded more qui ckly and made more mistakes than controls. Despite this they completed each trial more quickly than controls by identifying the target. On t he second version, the length of each trial was fixed at 45 seconds. A lthough both groups were equally ''reflective'', hyperactive children still made more mistakes. Implications of these results for research i n impulse control in general and hyperactivity in particular are discu ssed.