Source-linked AI summary
Dual-task Coordination in Children and Adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Ketevan Inasaridze, Vera Bzhalava
TL;DR
The study examines dual-task performance in children and adolescents with ADHD. Across computerized and paper-and-pencil paradigms, dual-task coordination was available regardless of ADHD subtype.
Problem
The study addresses whether children and adolescents with ADHD show developmental deviations in dual-task performance.
Method
The study compared dual-task performance across task-difficulty conditions and assessment paradigms using nonparametric tests and regression analysis.
Results
Dual-task coordination was available in children and adolescents with ADHD regardless of subtype, across computerized and paper-and-pencil paradigms.
Takeaways & Limitations
The findings support dual-task functioning as a separate cognitive function associated specifically with dual-task performance.
Takeaways & Limitations
The dual-task paradigm cannot be used as a criterion or tool for differential diagnosis of ADHD subtypes.
Abstract
from arXiv · showhide
The deficit of executive functioning was found to be associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in general and its subtypes. One of the important functions of central executive is the ability simultaneously coordinate two tasks. The study aimed at defining the dual-task performance characteristics in healthy children and adolescents on the computerised and the paper and pencil dual-task methods; investigating the effect of task difficulty on dual-task performance in ADHD in comparison to age and years of education matched healthy controls; testing if the paper and pencil version of the dual-task method is giving the same results in ADHD and healthy controls; investigating whether the dual-task functioning in ADHD is defined by the deficits in the general motor functioning and comorbidity factors. The study investigated dual task functioning in 6-16 years old 91 typically developing controls and 91 children with ADHD. It was found that: (1) the dual-task coordination is available in children and adolescents with ADHD in general and in its subtypes and not significantly different from performance of age and years of education matched healthy controls; (2) Increase of the task difficulty in dual-task paradigm don't affect disproportionately children and adolescents with ADHD in comparison to age and years of education matched healthy controls; (3) The paper and pencil version of the dual-task method is giving the same results in ADHD and healthy controls as computerised version; (4) The dual-task functioning in ADHD in general and in its subtypes is not defined by the general motor functioning while in healthy controls dual task performance is associated with the general motor functioning level; (5) The dual-task functioning in ADHD in general and in its subtypes is not defined by the comorbidity factors.
Participants
The study compared 91 children and adolescents with ADHD with 91 typically developing controls aged 6–16 years. Groups were closely matched for age and years of education, although the ADHD group included more boys.
- Participants: The sample comprised 91 children and adolescents with ADHD and 91 typically developing controls aged 6–16 years.Controls were recruited from schools, while participants with ADHD came from schools and a pediatric neurology department.
- Participants: ADHD diagnoses, subtypes, and comorbid disorders were established using DSM-IV criteria and parent/teacher behavioral rating scales.Autism symptoms were assessed with the SCQ, and children with autism symptoms were excluded.
- Participants: The groups were closely matched for age and years of education, with mean ages of 9.73 and 9.65 years and identical mean education of 4.46 years.The ADHD and control groups did not differ significantly in total WISC-III raw scores.
- Participants: Participants with intellectual disability, brain trauma, significant neurological or physical conditions, severe language problems, or borderline ADHD symptom counts were excluded.Control candidates with prior attention problems or a first-degree family history of ADHD were also excluded.
Apparatus and Material
The study used standardized cognitive, diagnostic, behavioral, comorbidity, developmental, and motor assessments, excluding participants with neurological, physical, or severe language conditions. Dual-task performance was assessed with computerized and paper-and-pencil serial digit recall plus perceptuomotor tracking tasks performed singly and simultaneously.
- Apparatus and Material: The computerized paradigm combined serial digit recall with light-pen tracking of a randomly moving target, presented as single tasks and simultaneously as a dual task.Tracking difficulty was adaptively adjusted according to time maintained on the target, and the stabilized speed level indexed tracking ability.
Procedure
The study assessed dual-task performance in children and adolescents with ADHD and controls using computerized and paper-and-pencil tasks, examining task difficulty, motor functioning, and comorbidity. Dual-task coordination was available in ADHD, while motor-function associations were evident mainly in healthy controls.
- Paper-and-pencil dual-task performance: The paper-and-pencil dual-task measures showed no significant effects of task type, group, interaction, ADHD type, or comorbidity, although controls generally performed better without reaching significance.Paper-and-pencil percentage-change and μ scores also did not differ significantly between study groups.
- Cross-format comparison: Computerized and paper-and-pencil dual-task measures showed moderate significant correlations across healthy controls and ADHD participants.The reported correlations were r=.29, p<.007 for controls and r=.23, p<.031 for ADHD participants.
- Motor-function associations: Motor functioning was associated with dual-task performance in healthy controls but not ADHD participants.Healthy controls’ computerized μ scores correlated with MABC-2 total and balance scores, while ADHD scores showed no significant correlations; higher motor performance was associated with less performance change from single to dual task.
- Comorbidity: Comorbidity was associated with lower motor-task performance within ADHD groups but did not significantly determine computerized or paper-and-pencil dual-task μ scores.Participants with comorbidity performed worse than those without it on specified computerized single and dual motor tasks, while ADHD type and comorbidity did not determine the dual-task μ measures.
- Computerized dual-task performance: Dual-task coordination was available in children and adolescents with ADHD, with computerized performance differing from controls mainly in task-related patterns rather than overall coordination.Computerized motor tracking showed task, group, and interaction effects, whereas List Memory showed only a task effect; controls improved more than ADHD participants under dual-task conditions.