Evaluation of children with ADHD on the Ball-Search Field Task

Searching, defined for the purpose of the present study as the displacement of an individual to locate resources, is a fundamental behavior of all mobile organisms. In humans this behavior underlies many aspects of everyday life, involving cognitive processes such as sustained attention, memory and inhibition. We explored the performance of 36 treatment-free children diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 132 children from a control school sample on the ecologically based ball-search field task (BSFT), which required them to locate and collect golf balls in a large outdoor area. Children of both groups enjoyed the task and were motivated to participate in it. However, performance showed that ADHD-diagnosed subjects were significantly less efficient in their searching. We suggest that the BSFT provides a promising basis for developing more complex ecologically-derived tests that might help to better identify particular cognitive processes and impairments associated with ADHD.