Voluntary and Automatic Orienting of Attention in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ABSTRACT Objective: Voluntary and automatic orienting of attention enable proper processing of environmental information. Few studies have assessed how this process varies during development in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods: This study analyzed voluntary and automatic orienting in 30 children with ADHD and 30 age and sex matched controls (Control group-CG). Two experiments assessed voluntary and automatic orienting by recording reaction times (RT) to conditions in relation to temporal interval, spatial position, cue validity and age. The RT medians calculated for each condition and participant were analyzed using ANOVA to compare ADHD and CG. Results: Children with ADHD exhibited globally higher RT than the CG group. They also showed prejudices during the reorienting process and demonstrated adequate voluntary orienting for shorter intervals. In automatic task, there was no group interaction, expressing early facilitation, but not inhibition of return. Conclusion: These results identify correlations of ADHD and the children's age in relation to voluntary and automatic orienting of attention.

Habilidades cognitivas ao longo do desenvolvimento: contribuições para o estudo da atenção concentrada / Cognitive skills throughout the development: contributions to concentrated attention study / Las habilidades cognitivas a lo largo del desarrollo: contribuciones a lo estudio de la atención concentrada

A atenção é um construto multidimensional com variações ao longo do desenvolvimento. No Brasil, há carência de instrumentos com características psicométricas adequadas para avaliar tais diferenças. Este trabalho analisou contribuições de diferentes estudos que utilizaram testes de atenção por cancelamento (TAC e AC) para avaliação do desenvolvimento da atenção em uma amostra normativa de crianças (n = 722) e sua comparação em amostra clínica com TDAH (n = 46). Foi realizada uma Anova para avaliar o efeito de idade no TAC, demonstrando diferença significativa para número de acertos e erros. No teste AC, realizou-se uma Anova dos dados de 78 crianças que também apontou aumento significativo de acertos em função da idade. O mesmo padrão ocorreu na comparação com 46 crianças com desatenção e hiperatividade. Os resultados mostram melhor desempenho atencional com a progressão da idade, além da possibilidade de uso desses instrumentos para caracterização de grupos com e sem indicadores compatíveis com TDAH.

Attention is a multidimensional construct with variations throughout development. In Brazil, there is a lack of instruments with adequate psychometric characteristics to evaluate such differences. This study analyzed the contributions of different papers that used attention by cancelling test (ACT and AC) to evaluate development of attention in a normative sample of children (n = 722) and its comparison to clinical sample with ADHD (n = 46). An ANOVA was performed to evaluate the effect of age on ACT, demonstrating a significant difference for correct numbers of responses and of errors. An ANOVA was performed in the ACT to compare data of 78 children, which also showed significantly higher scores based on age. The same pattern occurred in the comparison of 46 children with attention deficit and hyperactivity. The results show improvement on attentional performance with age progression, besides the possibility to use these instruments for characterization of groups with and without indicators compatible with ADHD.

La atención es un constructo multidimensional con variaciones a lo largo del desarrollo. En Brasil hay una falta de instrumentos con características de las psicometrías adecuadas para evaluar tales diferencias. Este estudio analizó las contribuciones de diferentes estudios que utilizaron las pruebas de cancelación de atención (TAC y AC) para evaluar el desarrollo de la atención en una muestra normativa de niños (n = 722) y su comparación con la muestra clínica con TDAH (n = 46). Anova se realizó para evaluar el efecto de la edad en el TAC, demonstrando una diferencia significativa para número de los aciertos y errores. En el teste AC se realizó una Anova de los datos de 78 niños, apuntando también puntuaciones significativamente más altas en base a la edad. El mismo patrón se produjo en la comparación con 46 niños con falta de atención e hiperactividad. Los resultados muestran un mejor rendimiento en la atención con la progresión de la edad y la oportunidad de utilizar estos instrumentos para la caracterización de grupos con y sin indicadores compatibles con TDAH.

Voluntary and automatic orienting of attention during childhood development

Selective attention directs cognitive resources to relevant objects or events through either voluntary (top-down) or automatic (bottom-up) control. This paper analyzes voluntary and automatic orienting of attention during childhood development. Seventy-four children (6 to 10 years old) were asked to press a key in response to a visual target presented in a previously oriented position (voluntary orienting; Experiment 1) or after a peripheral unpredictable cue (automatic orienting; Experiment 2). A systematic reduction of reaction times was observed in older children in both experiments. For automatic orienting in Experiment 2, reaction times were shorter in the ipsilateral condition than in the contralateral condition. However, for older children, the differences in reaction times between these conditions decreased. This may be attributable to the appearance of Inhibition of Return as a result of the maturation of the attentional system derived from childhood development, which contributes to more effective exploration of the environment.(AU)

Voluntary and automatic orienting of attention during childhood development

Selective attention directs cognitive resources to relevant objects or events through either voluntary (top-down) or automatic (bottom-up) control. This paper analyzes voluntary and automatic orienting of attention during childhood development. Seventy-four children (6 to 10 years old) were asked to press a key in response to a visual target presented in a previously oriented position (voluntary orienting; Experiment 1) or after a peripheral unpredictable cue (automatic orienting; Experiment 2). A systematic reduction of reaction times was observed in older children in both experiments. For automatic orienting in Experiment 2, reaction times were shorter in the ipsilateral condition than in the contralateral condition. However, for older children, the differences in reaction times between these conditions decreased. This may be attributable to the appearance of Inhibition of Return as a result of the maturation of the attentional system derived from childhood development, which contributes to more effective exploration of the environment.