Ejs. Sonugabarke et al., WHEN IS IMPULSIVENESS NOT IMPULSIVE - THE CASE OF HYPERACTIVE CHILDRENS COGNITIVE-STYLE, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry and allied disciplines, 35(7), 1994, pp. 1247-1253
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.