| dc.description | An abundance of literature in both clinical and cognitive psychology suggests that children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) show improved attentiveness and decreased hyperactivity in situations wherein positive behaviours are immediately rewarded. An application of the optimal stimulation theory further suggests that children with ADHD need higher levels of stimulation and excitement, relative to controls, in order to function well in their environments. Little research, however, has focused on the specific influence of rewards and excitement on the different components of attention in children. The current study did so by comparing task performance on a computerized attention battery in each of two conditions (traditional/boring and video game/exciting) for 45 children (19 ADHD, 26 control) aged 7 through 11 years. The five tasks used in the battery---Simon, flanker, stop-signal, blink, and continuous performance---provided measures of the following components of attention: expectancy, encoding capacity, sustained attention, focusing, filtering, and interference control. The traditional attention battery employed plain-color computer screens with no non-task related stimuli whereas the video game battery employed a storyline and prizes. An initial study completed with 60 university students demonstrated the expected task effects. Task reliability was also established among the sample of control children. Neither the ADHD nor the control group's attentional abilities were consistently facilitated by the enhanced video game context, perhaps because the increased stimulation and related memory demands unintentionally overloaded the children's cognitive capacities. | en_US |
