Video game performances are preserved in ADHD children compared with controls

Although ADHD and excessive video game playing have received some attention, few studies have explored the performances of ADHD children when playing video games. The authors hypothesized that performances of ADHD children would be as good as those of control children in motivating video games tasks but not in the Continuous Performance Test II (CPT II).

The sample consisted of 26 ADHD children and 16 control children. Performances of ADHD and control children were compared on three commercially available games, on the repetition of every game, and on the CPT II.

ADHD children had lower performances on the CPT II than did controls, but they exhibited equivalent performances to controls when playing video games at both sessions and on all three games.

When playing video games, ADHD children present no difference in inhibitory performances compared with control children. This demonstrates that cognitive difficulties in ADHD are task dependent.