Stimulus Response Time (RTS) synchronisation as a primary executive impairment in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

The research employed a form of distributional analysis to examine the distribution of response times of ADHD and individually matched non-ADHD controls on measures provided by computer video games.

Boys with ADHD took longer to complete computer games but made more errors.  As the games became more complex, however, the performance of the boys with ADHD was less distinguishable from that of non-ADHD boy.

Motor control and sequencing of boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder during computer gamer play

The motor control of 49 unmedicated boys clinically diagnosed with ADHD, case-matched with 49 non-ADHD boys, was assessed while playing Crash Bandicoot I, a SonyTM Playstation platform computer video game. In Crash Bandicoot participants control the movements of a small-animated figure through a hazardous jungle environment.

Measures of motor control were designated by (1) the stage of the game completed (for example, the number of obstacles successfully passed) before losing the figure's ‘life’, (2) the level of complexity that the stage represented and (3) the time taken to get to that point during the video game play.

These measures were assessed under contrasting conditions of low or high working memory and distracter loads. Four tasks were administered (totaling 12 trials), incorporating both with and without distracter conditions.

For those trials with the distracter, a segment of the television show The Simpsons was simultaneously played on a television screen adjacent to the computer game monitor. A five-way MANOVA revealed that ADHD boys took less time to complete their trials under the direct condition (for instance, no working memory load) on Crash Bandicoot, compared to their matched non-ADHD peers. When the task required additional working memory, however, the ADHD boys took significantly longer.