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Reaction time indices of attention deficits in boys with disruptive behavior disorders
T P Zahn1, M J Kruesi, J L Rapoport
1Laboratory of Psychology and Psychopathology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
Insights
Boys with disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) exhibit attention deficits, showing slower reaction times and increased variability. They struggle with sustained attention, temporal uncertainty, and modality uncertainty, impacting their performance in cognitive tasks.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Psychiatry
Background:
- Disruptive Behavior Disorder (DBD) encompasses conditions affecting behavior and attention in children.
- Understanding cognitive deficits in DBD is crucial for targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate sustained and selective attention in boys with DBD using reaction time (RT) paradigms.
- To identify specific cognitive processing differences between DBD and control groups.
Main Methods:
- Two reaction time (RT) experiments were conducted.
- Experiment I varied preparatory interval length and regularity to assess sustained attention.
- Experiment II manipulated stimulus modality and response selection uncertainty to assess selective attention.
Main Results:
- Boys with DBD demonstrated slower and more variable RTs compared to controls, irrespective of age and IQ.
- DBD boys showed heightened sensitivity to preparatory interval variations, indicating attention lapses and temporal uncertainty issues.
- Greater effects of modality uncertainty were observed in DBD boys, but response selection was unaffected.
Conclusions:
- Boys with DBD experience significant attention deficits, particularly with temporal uncertainty and sustained attention.
- Cognitive impairments in DBD boys extend to selective attention under modality uncertainty.
- No significant differences were found between subdiagnoses within the DBD spectrum.
Abstract:
Boys with diagnoses in the disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) spectrum and normal controls were tested in two reaction time (RT) experiments. In Experiment I simple warned RT was measured and the length and regularity of the preparatory intervals were varied in order to study sustained attention in the sense of preparation. With age and IQ controlled, DBD boys had slower and more variable RT overall than controls and showed generally more pronounced effects of variations in the length and sequence of the preparatory intervals. The results suggest that DBD boys are subject to lapses of attention which are increased by a relatively long preparatory interval, and that they have a particular problem with temporal uncertainty. In Experiment II some aspects of selective attention were studied in a paradigm in which stimulus modality uncertainty and response selection were varied. DBD boys showed greater effects of modality uncertainty but not response selection than controls. No differences between subdiagnoses within the DBD spectrum could be demonstrated.