Time-on-task in children with ADHD: An ex-Gaussian analysis

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society

Volumn 19, Issue 7, 2013, Pages 820-828

  Tarantino, Vincenza ^a   Cutini, Simone ^a   Mogentale, Carla ^b   Bisiacchi, Patrizia Silvia ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PADOVA   (Italy)

^b Centro Phoenix di Psicologia   (Italy)

Author keywords

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Continuous performance task; Developmental disorder; Ex Gaussian function; Intra individual variability; Sustained attention

Indexed keywords

EID: 84880556287     PISSN: 13556177     EISSN: 14697661     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1355617713000623     Document Type: Article

References (60)

1. Achenbach, T.M. (1991). Manual for the child behavior checklist 4/18 and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry
2. American Psychiatry Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th edition-Text revision) Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association
3. Barkley, R.A. (1997). Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychological Bulletin, 12, 65-94
4. Bellgrove, M.A., Hester, R., & Garavan, H. (2004). The functional neuroanatomical correlates of response variability: Evidence from a response inhibition task. Neuropsychologia, 42, 1910-1916
5. Benjamini, Y., & Hochberg, Y. (1995). Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B (Methodological), 57, 298-300
6. Biancardi, A., & Nicoletti, C. (2004). BDE, Batteria per la valutazione della Discalculia Evolutiva. [Battery for the assessment of Dyscalculia]. Torino, Italy: Omega Edizioni
7. Borella, E., de Ribaupierre, A., Cornoldi, C., & Chicherio, C. (2012). Beyond interference control impairment in ADHD: Evidence from increased intraindividual variability in the color-Stroop test. Child Neuropsychology, [Epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1080/09297049.2012.696603
8. Burbeck, S.L., & Luce, R.D. (1982). Evidence from auditory simple reaction times for both change and level detectors. Perception & Psychophysics, 32, 117-133
9. Bush, G. (2010). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and attention networks. Neuropsychopharmacology, 35, 278-300
10. Bush, G. (2011). Cingulate, frontal, and parietal cortical dysfunction in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 69, 1160-1167
11. Buzy, W., Medoff, D.R., & Schweitzer, J.B. (2009). Intra-individual variability among children with ADHD on a working memory task: An ex-Gaussian approach. Child Neuropsychology, 2, 1-19
12. Castellanos, F.X., Sonuga-Barke, E.J., Milham, M.P., & Tannock, R. (2006). Characterizing cognition in ADHD: Beyond executive dysfunction. Trends in Cognitive Science, 10, 117-123
13. Castellanos, F.X., Sonuga-Barke, E.J., Scheres, A., Di Martino, A., Hyde, C., & Walters, J.R. (2005). Varieties of attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder-related intra-individual variability. Biological Psychiatry, 57, 1416-1423
14. Castellanos, F.X., & Tannock, R. (2002). Neuroscience of attentiondeficit/ hyperactivity disorder: The search for endophenotypes. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3, 617-628
15. Conners, C.K., & MHS, Staff. (Eds.) (2000). Conners' Continuous Performance Test II: Computer program for Windows technical guide and software manual. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health Systems Inc
16. Cornoldi, C., & Colpo, G. (1998). Prove di lettura MT per la scuola elementare-2. [MT reading tests for primary school]. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali
17. Cornoldi, C., Gardinale, M., Masi, A., & Pettenó, L. (1996). Impulsivitá e autocontrollo. [Impulsivity and Self-control]. Trento, Italy: Centro Studi Erickson
18. Di Martino, A., Ghaffari, M., Curchack, J., Reiss, P., Hyde, C., Vannucci, M., y Castellanos, F.X. (2008). Decomposing intrasubject variability in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 64, 607-614
19. Douglas, V.I. (1999). Cognitive control processes in attentiondeficit/ hyperactivity disorder. In H.C. Quay & A.E. Hogan (Eds.), Handbook of disruptive behavior disorders (pp. 105-138). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers
20. Epstein, J.N., Brinkman, W.B., Froehlich, T., Langberg, J.M., Narad, M.E., Antonini, T.N., y Altaye, M. (2011). Effects of stimulant medication, incentives, and event rate on reaction time variability in children with ADHD. Neuropsychopharmacology, 36, 1060-1072
21. Epstein, J.N., Conners, C.K., Hervey, A.S., Tonev, S.T., Arnold, L.E., Abikoff, H.B., y Wigal, T.; MTA Cooperative Study Group (2006). Assessing medication effects in the MTA study using neuropsychological outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 446-456
22. Epstein, J.N., Erkanli, A., Conners, C.K., Klaric, J., Costello, J.E., & Angold, A. (2003). Relations between continuous performance test performance measures and ADHD behaviors. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 543-554
23. Epstein, J.N., Hwang, M.E., Antonini, T., Langberg, J.M., Altaye,M., & Arnold, L.E. (2010). Examining predictors of reaction times in children with ADHD and normal controls. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 16, 138-147
24. Epstein, J.N., Langberg, J.M., Rosen, P.J., Graham, A., Narad, M.E., Antonini, T.N., y Altaye, M. (2011). Evidence for higher reaction time variability for children with ADHD on a range of cognitive tasks including reward and event rate manipulations. Neuropsychology, 25, 427-441
25. Fassbender, C., Zhang, H., Buzy, W.M., Cortes, C.R., Mizuiri, D., Beckett, L., & Schweitzer, J.B. (2009). A lack of default network suppression is linked to increased distractibility in ADHD. Brain Research, 1273, 114-128
26. Frigerio, A., Cattaneo, C., Cataldo, M., Schiatti, A., Molteni, M., & Battaglia, M. (2004). Behavioral and emotional problems among Italian children and adolescents aged 4 to 18 years as reported by parents and teachers. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 20, 124-133
27. Geurts, H.M., Grasman, R.P., Verte, S., Ooserlaan, J., Roeyers, H., van Kammen, S.M., & Sergeant, J.A. (2008). Intra-individual variability in ADHD, autism spectrum disorders and Tourette's Syndrome. Neuropsychologia, 46, 3030-3041
28. Heathcote, A., Popiel, S.J., & Mewhort, D.J.K. (1991). Analysis of response time distributions: An example using the Stroop task. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 340-347
29. Helps, S.K., Broyd, S.J., Bitsakou, P., & Sonuga-Barke, E.J. (2011). Identifying a distinctive familial frequency band in reaction time fluctuations in ADHD. Neuropsychology, 25, 711-719
30. Hervey, A., Epstein, J.N., Curry, J.F., Tonev, S., Arnold, L.E., Conners, C.K.,y Hechtman, L. (2006). Reaction time distribution analysis of neuropsychological performance in an ADHD sample. Child Neuropsychology, 12, 125-140
31. Hockley, W.E., & Corballis, M.C. (1982). Test of serial scanning in item recognition. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 36, 189-212
32. Johnson, K.A., Kelly, S.P., Bellgrove, M.A., Barry, E., Cox, M., Gill, M., & Robertson, I.H. (2007). Response variability in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Evidence for neuropsychological heterogeneity. Neuropsychologia, 45, 630-638
33. Kelly, A.M., Hester, R., Murphy, K., Javitt, D.C., Foxe, J.J., & Garavan, H. (2004). Prefrontal-subcortical dissociations underlying inhibitory control revealed by event-related fMRI. European Journal of Neuroscience, 19, 3105-3112
34. Klein, C., Wendling, K., Huettner, P., Ruder, H., & Peper, M. (2006). Intra-subject variability in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 60, 1088-1097
35. Kuntsi, J., Oosterlaan, J., & Stevenson, J. (2001). Psychological mechanisms in hyperactivity. I. Response inhibition deficit, working memory impairment, delay aversion, or something else? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42, 199-210
36. Lacouture, Y., & Cousineau, D. (2008). How to use MATLAB to fit the ex-Gaussian and other probability functions to a distribution of response times. Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 4, 35-45
37. Leth-Steensen, C., Elbaz, Z.K., & Douglas, V.I. (2000). Mean response times, variability, and skew in the responding of ADHD children: A response time distributional approach. Acta Psychologica, 104, 167-190
38. Luce, R.D. (1986). Response times: Their role in inferring elementary mental organization. New York: Oxford University Press
39. Manly, T., Owen, A.M., McAvinue, L., Datta, A., Lewis, G.H., Scott, S.K.,yRobertson, I.H. (2003). Enhancing the sensitivity of a sustained attention task to frontal damage: Convergent clinical and functional imaging evidence. Neurocase, 9, 340-349
40. Marzocchi, G.M., Re, A.M., & Cornoldi, C. (2010). BIA: Batteria Italiana per l'ADHD. [Italian Battery for ADHD]. Trento, Italy: Centro Studi Erickson
41. Nigg, J.T., Willcutt, E.G., Doyle, A.E., & Sonuga-Barke, E.J. (2005). Causal heterogeneity in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Do we need neuropsychologically impaired subtypes? Biological Psychiatry, 57, 1224-1230
42. Orsini, A., & Picone, L. (2006). WISC-III contributo alla taratura italiana [WISC-III contribution to the Italian standardization]. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali
43. Ratcliff, R., & Murdock, B.B. (1976). Retrieval processes in recognition memory. Psychological Review, 83, 190-214
44. Ridderinkhof, K.R. (2002). Activation and suppression in conflict tasks: Empirical clarification through distributional analyses. In W. Prinz & B. Hommel (Eds.), Common mechanisms in perception and action. Attention & performance, (Vol. XIX, pp. 494-519). Oxford: Oxford University Press
45. Sartori, G., Job, R., & Tressoldi, P. (2009). Batteria per la valutazione della dislessia e della disortografia evolutiva. [Battery for the assessment of dyslexia and dysorthografy]. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali
46. Sergeant, J.A. (2005). Modeling attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A critical appraisal of the cognitive-energetic model. Biological Psychiatry, 57, 1248-1255
47. Sergeant, J.A., Geurts, H., Huijbregts, S., Scheres, A., & Oosterlaan, J. (2003). The top and the bottom of ADHD: A neuropsychological perspective. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 27, 583-592
48. Sonuga-Barke, E.J., & Castellanos, F.X. (2007). Spontaneous attentional fluctuations in impaired states and pathological conditions: A neurobiological hypothesis. Neuroscience Biobehavioral Reviews, 31, 977-986
49. Spencer, S.V., Hawk, L.W. Jr., Richards, J.B., Shiels, K., Pelham, W., & Waxmonsky, J. (2009). Stimulant treatment reduces lapses in attention among children with ADHD: The effects of methylphenidate on intraindividual response time distributions. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 805-816
50. Stuss, D.T., Murphy, K.J., Binns, M.A., & Alexander, M.P. (2003). Staying on the job: The frontal lobes control individual performance variability. Brain, 126, 2363-8230
51. Tannock, R., Schachar, R., & Logan, G. (1995). Methylphenidate and cognitive flexibility: Dissociated dose effects in hyperactive children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 23, 235-266
52. Teicher, M.H., Lowen, S.B., Polcari, A., Foley, M., & McGreenery, C.E. (2004). Novel strategy for the analysis of CPT data provides new insight into the effects of methylphenidate on attentional states in children with ADHD. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 14, 219-232
53. Tressoldi, P.E., & Cornoldi, C. (1991). Batteria per la valutazione della scrittura e della competenza ortografica nella scuola dell'obbligo. [Battery for the assessment of writing skills of children from 7 to 13 years old]. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali
54. van der Meere, J., Shalev, R., Borger, N., & Gross-Tsur, V. (1995). Sustained attention, activation and MPH in ADHD: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36, 697-703
55. van der Meere, J., Wekking, E., & Sergeant, J.A. (1991). Sustained attention and pervasive hyperactivity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 275-284
56. Vaurio, R.G., Simmonds, D.J., & Mostofsky, S.H. (2009). Increased intra-individual reaction time variability in attentiondeficit/ hyperactivity disorder across response inhibition tasks with different cognitive demands. Neuropsychologia, 47, 2389-2396
57. Wechsler, D. (1991). WISC-III: Wechsler intelligence scale for children. New York: The Psychological Corporation
58. Weissman, D.H., Roberts, K.C., Visscher, K.M., & Woldorff, M.G. (2006). The neural bases of momentary lapses in attention. Nature Neuroscience, 9, 971-978
59. Wilkins, A.J., Shallice, T., & McCarthy, R. (1987). Frontal lesions and sustained attention. Neuropsychologia, 25, 359-365
60. Willcutt, E.G., Doyle, A.E., Nigg, J.T., Faraone, S.V., & Pennington, B.F. (2005). Validity of the executive function theory of attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder: A meta-Analytic review. Biological Psychiatry, 57, 1336-1346