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A review of psychophysiological research with hyperkinetic children
Insights
Hyperactive children may not differ in resting arousal but show underarousal to stimulation. Stimulant drugs appear to increase arousal and response to stimuli in these children.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Psychophysiology
Background:
- Research investigates psychophysiological differences between hyperactive and typically developing children.
- The impact of stimulant medications on hyperactive children's psychophysiology is a key area of study.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review existing studies on the psychophysiology of hyperactivity.
- To examine the effects of stimulant drugs on hyperactive children's arousal and response to stimulation.
Main Methods:
- Review of studies categorized by psychophysiological measures employed.
- Analysis of autonomic and central nervous system functions, including evoked responses.
- Examination of findings related to resting arousal levels and responses to environmental stimulation.
Main Results:
- Hyperactive children generally do not exhibit differences in resting autonomic arousal compared to controls.
- Some hyperactive children may show resting cortical underarousal.
- Studies indicate hyperactive children are often underreactive to environmental stimulation ('underarousable').
- Stimulant drugs appear to increase arousal and enhance nervous system responses to stimulation in hyperactive children.
Conclusions:
- Hyperactivity may be characterized by underreactivity to stimulation rather than altered resting arousal.
- Stimulant medications may normalize or enhance arousal and responsiveness in hyperactive children.
- Findings have implications for hyperactivity theories and future research directions.
Abstract:
A number of studies have appeared which focus on the issue of whether hyperactive children are psychophysiologically different from normal children and what impact the stimulant drugs may have on psychophysiological characteristics of these children. The present paper reviews these studies under the type of measures that were employed. In general, the results suggest that hyperactive children are probably not under- or overaroused in their resting levels of autonomic functions, although some children may display resting cortical underarousal. However, the findings of studies on the impact of stimulation on autonomic or central functions intimate that some hyperactive children are probably underreactive to environmental stimulation, or are "underarousable." Indeed, where differences between hyperactive and normal children are found in such evoked-response studies, they are consistently in this direction of "underarousability." Results for the effects of stimulant drugs suggest that these drugs energize or increase the "arousal" of these children and enhance the impact of stimulation on the nervous system. The implications of these results for current theories of hyperactivity and for future research are discussed.