Abstract
The influence of age on a selective attention task was studied in a sample of children with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The impact of methylphenidate (MPH) treatment on selective attention was also investigated in the children with ADHD. Two age groups of children with ADHD and two age groups of control children were tested using a timed computer task. The task consisted of identifying visual target stimuli under various distracter conditions. Distracters varied on the basis of modality (i.e., visual, auditory, or both) and task relevance (i.e., meaningful or irrelevant). Reaction times and accuracy were measured. Children with ADHD were less efficient on the selective attention task than were children without ADHD, and older children were more efficient than younger children in both groups. Children without ADHD were influenced more by the nature of distracters than were children with ADHD. For children with ADHD, MPH improved performance overall.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Barkley, R. A. (1997). ADHD and the nature of self-control. New York: The Guilford Press.
Barkley, R. A., Karlsson, J., Pollard, S., & Murphy, J. V. (1985). Developmental changes in the mother-child interactions of hyperactive boys: Effects of two dose levels of ritalin. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26, 705–715.
Bedi, G. C., Halperin, J. M., & Sharma, V. (1994). Investigation of modality-specific distractibility in children. International Journal of Neuroscience, 74, 79–85.
Blishen, B. R., Carroll, W. K., & Moore, C. (1987). The 1981 socioeconomic index for occupations in Canada. Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 24, 465–487.
Brodeur, D. A., Trick, L., & Enns, J. T. (1997). Selective attention over the lifespan. In J. A. Burack & J. T. Enns (Eds.), Attention, development, and psychopathology. New York: Guilford Press.
Brysbaert, M. (1990). A warning about millisecond timing in Turbo Pascal. Behavior Research, Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 22, 344–345.
Carter, C. S., Krener, P., Chaderjian, M., Northcutt, C., & Wolfe, V. (1995a). Abnormal processing of irrelevant information in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Psychiatry Research, 56, 59–70.
Carter, C. S., Krener, P., Chaderjian, M., Northcutt, C., & Wolfe, V. (1995b). Asymmetrical visual-spatial attentional performance in ADHD: Evidence for right hemispheric Deficit. Society of Biological Psychiatry, 37, 789–797.
Ceci, S. J., & Tishman, J. (1984). Hyperactivity and incidental memory: Evidence for attentional diffusion. Child Development, 55, 2192–2203.
Chi, M. T. H. (1976). Short-term memory limitations in children: Capacity or processing deficits. Memory & Cognition, 4, 559–572.
Conners, C. K. (1989). Conners' rating scales manual. Toronto, ON: Multi-Health Systems.
Crosbie, J. (1989). A simple Turbo Pascal 4.0 program for millisecond timing on the IBM PC/XT/AT. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 21, 408–413.
Dalebout, S. D., Nelson, N. W., Hletko, P. J., & Frentheway, B. (1991). Selective auditory attention and children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: Effects of repeated measurement with and without methylphenidate. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 22, 219–227.
DeMarie-Dreblow, D., & Miller, P. H. (1988). The development of children's strategies for selective attention: Evidence for a transitional period. Child Development, 59, 1504–1513.
Douglas, V. I. (1988). Cognitive deficits in children with Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity. Journal of Child Psychology and Child Psychiatry (Monograph Supplement). Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Enns, J. T., & Akhtar, N. (1989). The developmental study of filtering in visual attention. Child Development, 60, 1188–1199.
Eriksen, B. A., & Eriksen, C.W. (1974). Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task. Perception and Psychophsics, 16, 143–149.
Greenhill, L. L. (1992). Pharmacologic treatment of attention deficit disorder. Pediatric Psychopharmacology, 12, 1–27.
Guttentag, R. E., & Ornstein, P. A. (1990). Attentional capacity and children's memory strategy use. In J. T. Enns (Ed.), The development of attention: Research and theory. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Hamm, J. (1996). General Experimental Package (Version 1.0) [Computer software]. Halifax: Dalhousie University.
Halperin, J. M. (1991). The clinical assessment of attention. International Journal of Neuroscience, 58, 171–182.
Higginbotham, P., & Bartling, C. (1993). The effects of sensory distractions on short-term recall of children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder versus normally achieving children. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 31, 507–510.
Hooks, K., Milich, R., & Lorch, E. P. (1994). Sustained and selective attention in boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 23, 69–77.
Landau, S., Lorch, E. P., & Milich, R. (1992). Visual attention and comprehension of television in attention-deficit hyperactivity disordered and normal boys. Child Development, 63, 928–937.
Lane, D. M., & Pearson, D. A. (1982). The development of selective attention. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 28, 317–337.
Malone, M. A., & Swanson, J. M. (1993). Effects of methylphenidate on impulsive responding in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Child Neurology, 8, 157–163.
Miller, P. H., Seier, W. L., Probert, J. S., & Aloise, P. A. (1991). Age differences in the capacity demands of a strategy among spontaneously strategic children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 52, 149–165.
Pascuel-Leone, J. (1978). Compounds, confounds and models in developmental information processing: A reply to Trabasso and Foellinger. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 26, 18–40.
Plude, D. J., Enns, J. T., & Brodeur, D. (1994). The development of selective attention: A life-span overview. Acta Psychologica, 86, 227–272.
Satterfield, J. H., Schell, A. M., Nicholas, T. W., Satterfield, B. T., & Freese, T. E. (1990). Ontogeny of selective attention effects on event-related potentials in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and normal boys. Biological Psychiatry, 28, 879–903.
Shibagaki, M., Yamanaka, T., & Furuya, T. (1993). Attention state in electrodermal activity during auditory stimulation of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 77, 331–338.
van der Meere, J., Gunning, B., & Stemerdink, N. (1999). The effect of methylphenidate and clonidine on response inhibition and state regulation in children with ADHD. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2, 291–298.
Whalen, C. K., Henker, B., Swanson, J. M., Granger, D. A., Kliewer, W., & Spencer, J. (1987). Natural social behaviors in hyperactive children: Dose effects of methylphenidate. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 187–193.
Williams, B. R., Ponesse, J. S., Schachar, R. J., Logan, G. D., & Tannock, R. (1999). Development of inhibitory control across the lifespan. Developmental Psychology, 35, 205–213.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brodeur, D.A., Pond, M. The Development of Selective Attention in Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. J Abnorm Child Psychol 29, 229–239 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010381731658
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010381731658