Stimulus-Control Factors in Search Performance of Hyperactive Children

Abstract

Added stimulation, both biochemical and environmental, has been used to improve the sustained attention but less frequently the search-attention performance of hyperactive children. In the present study a search task was used that differed from sustained-attention tasks only in an additional requirement for visual scanning. The performance of hyperactive and control children on a noncolored version of this task was compared with a version to which color stimulation had been presented that reduced the area to be scanned or that required a wide area to be scanned in a mixed design counterbalanced for stimulation order and level of search. Findings were that hyperactive children omitted more signals than controls on most of the noncolored search task. In the color condition, only during the last third of performance did the hyperactive children crossover with a greater increase in errors than controls. This increase, however, was attributed to the narrow-focus search condition that reduced overall visual access to task and color stimuli, effectively making that color condition less stimulating. Conclusions were that performance on search-attentional tasks, like sustained attentional performance, is normalized for hyperactive children by added color, especially during early task performance; but that the performance gains produced by color wear off more rapidly for hyperactive children, especially when a narrow focus of attention is required.

Interventions to Address the Academic Impairment of Children and Adolescents with ADHD

“…This suggests that over time, adaptation may occur, and that the novelty of color wears off and no longer serves to increase stimulation. Extending these results to a search-attention task involving visual scanning, a study by Zentall (1985) found equivalent results to those found for sustained attention tasks. That is, the performance of hyperactive children was normalized during color conditions, especially during the first two-thirds of task performance.…”

“…Some studies required only that participants surpass a cut-off score on the Conner's Behavior Rating Scale teacher version (e.g., Ajibola and Clement, 1995;Belfiore et al, 1996;Fitzgerald et al, 1986;Zentall, 1985) or another teacher report measure (e.g., Robinson et al, 1981;Zentall, 1986). This is not consistent with best practices for diagnosing ADHD, which include the integration of reports from multiple individuals in more than one setting (Barkley, 1998).…”

Theory‐ and Evidence‐Based Strategies for Children with Attentional Problems

“…Thus, their sustained attentional "deficit" is related to the length, familiarity, or repetitiveness of the task. While performing these tasks, students with ADHD look around or change their attentional focus more often than their peers, especially during later performance (e.g., Zentall, 1985Zentall, , 1986Zentall & Zentall, 1976;Zentall, Falkenberg, & Smith, 1985).…”

“…These techniques are typically used by general and special educators, who provide direct services to children with ADHD-I and -C. For improvements in sustained attention (i.e., after the child has mastered the selective-attention requirements of the task), added novelty (relevant or nonrelevant) has been documented to improve the sustained attention of students with ADHD more than for matched comparisons when it is placed (a) prior to a visual creativity task (i.e., an exciting car-chase video: Shaw & Brown, 1999) and (b) within a task (color added to search, sustained attention, handwriting, copying, or matching-figures tasks : Imhof, 2004;Lee & Asplen, in press;Zentall, 1985Zentall, , 1986Zentall & Dwyer, 1988;Zentall et al, 1985). That is, even nonrelevant color can produce normalized performance for students with ADHD during sustained-attention tasks, which is similar to the effects obtained by psychostimulant medication (i.e., improved behavior, attention, and productivity and reduced careless errors).…”

Post-trauma: Is evidence-based practice a fantasy?

“…The reprimand is short and to the point. For parents who like to lecture, it helps to know that for ADHD children extra narrative and detail can reduce comprehension and performance (Edmonds & Smith, 1985;Shroyer & Zentall, 1986), and the children pay attention less to long tasks (Zentall, 1985;Zentall & Zentall, 1976). The child's attention skills and angry emotional behavior associated with disruptive defiance is incompatible with the skills necessary to comprehend and respond effectively to long parent explanation.…”