Executive functioning in children with ADHD Investigating the cross-method correlations between performance tests and rating scales.

Objective: Replicated evidence shows a weak or non-significant correlation between different methods of evaluating executive functions (EF). The current study investigates the association between rating scales and cognitive tests of EF in a sample of children with ADHD and executive dysfunction. Method: The sample included 139 children (aged 6-13) diagnosed with ADHD and executive dysfunctions. The children completed subtests of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). Parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Children's Organizational Skills Scale (COSS). Analysis: Pairwise Spearman correlations were calculated between the composite and separate subscales of cognitive tests and rating scales. In secondary analyses, pairwise Spearman correlations were conducted between all composite scales and subscales, stratified by child sex and child ADHD subtype. Results: The correlation analyses between composite scores yielded no significant correlations. The results when comparing CANTAB TO and BRIEF GE are r=-.095, p=.289, and r=.042, p=.643 when comparing CANTAB TO and COSS TO. The analyses between all composite scales and subscales found one significant negative correlation (r=-.25, p<.01). There are significant cross-method differences when stratified by the ADHD-Inattentive subtype, showing significant negative correlations (moderate) between CANTAB and BRIEF composite (r=-.355, p=.014) and subscales. Discussion: It is possible that the different methods measure different underlying constructs of EF. It may be relevant to consider the effects of responder bias and differences in ecological validity in both measurement methods. Conclusion: The results found no significant correlations. The expectation in research and clinical settings should not be to find the same results when comparing data from cognitive tests and rating scales. Future research might explore novel approaches to EF testing with a higher level of ecological validity, and designing EF rating scales that capture EF behaviors more so than EF cognition.

Towards the Neuroevolution of Low-level artificial general intelligence.

In this work, we argue that the search for Artificial General Intelligence should start from a much lower level than human-level intelligence. The circumstances of intelligent behavior in nature resulted from an organism interacting with its surrounding environment, which could change over time and exert pressure on the organism to allow for learning of new behaviors or environment models. Our hypothesis is that learning occurs through interpreting sensory feedback when an agent acts in an environment. For that to happen, a body and a reactive environment are needed. We evaluate a method to evolve a biologically-inspired artificial neural network that learns from environment reactions named Neuroevolution of Artificial General Intelligence, a framework for low-level artificial general intelligence. This method allows the evolutionary complexification of a randomly-initialized spiking neural network with adaptive synapses, which controls agents instantiated in mutable environments. Such a configuration allows us to benchmark the adaptivity and generality of the controllers. The chosen tasks in the mutable environments are food foraging, emulation of logic gates, and cart-pole balancing. The three tasks are successfully solved with rather small network topologies and therefore it opens up the possibility of experimenting with more complex tasks and scenarios where curriculum learning is beneficial.

Organizational skills training for children with ADHD: study protocol for a randomized, controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Problems with sustained attention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity are the most prominent symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but many children with this diagnosis also present with poor organizational skills that are important in relation to school. These problems tend to increase from childhood to adolescence and are often not well managed by medication. Organizational skills training (OST) is a range of behavioral interventions that specifically target organizational skills deficits. Evidence supports the effect of OST on improving organizational skills, inattention, and academic performance in children with ADHD. Because previous clinical trials included mostly children above the age of 8 years, this trial includes children in the age range 6-13 years to expand the knowledge on the effects of OST in younger children. Previous OST research has also shown improvement on inattention in parent ratings; we will investigate if a change in inattention can be confirmed with neurocognitive tests. Finally, little is known about predictors of treatment response in OST. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective is to investigate if OST has positive effects on organizational skills in children with ADHD. The primary outcome measurement is the parent-rated Children's Organizational Skills Scale (COSS), collected before and at the end of the 10 week intervention. Secondary and exploratory outcomes include inattention ratings, family and school functioning, and cognitive functions measured before the intervention period, immediately after, and at a 6 month follow-up. Additional objectives are to investigate both neurocognitive outcomes and age as predictors of treatment response. METHODS: This is a randomized clinical superiority trial investigating the effect of OST vs a treatment-as-usual (TAU) control group for children with ADHD in the age range of 6-13 years. All participants (n = 142) receive TAU. OST is administered in a group format of 10 weekly sessions. Adverse events are monitored by study clinicians during weekly therapy sessions and all assessments. Data analyses will be conducted using mixed linear regression models with random intercepts for patients, adjusted for the stratification variables and the baseline value. PERSPECTIVES: This study will provide important new knowledge and expand on existing research in the field of non-pharmacological treatment of children with ADHD. OST can potentially have a significant impact on the lives of children with ADHD by helping them learn how to cope with their present deficits and to become more independent and self-reliant. It is also important to investigate predictors of treatment response in order to optimize OST. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03160378 . Registered on May 19, 2017.