Effortful and Automatic Information Processing in Boys with ADHD and Specific Learning Disorders

• Published in: Journal of child psychology and psychiatry Vol. 40; no. 2; pp. 275 - 286
• Main Authors: Hazell, Philip L., Carr, Vaughan J., Lewin, Terry J., Dewis, Sally A. M., Heathcote, Diane M., Brucki, Belinda M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK and Boston, USA Cambridge University Press 01.02.1999; Blackwell Publishers Ltd; Blackwell; Pergamon Press; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Analysis of Variance; Attention - physiology; Attention deficit disorder; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - complications; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - physiopathology; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - psychology; Attention deficit disorders. Hyperactivity; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Biological and medical sciences; Boys; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child clinical studies; Child psychology; cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Eye Movements - physiology; Humans; Hyperactivity; information integration theory; Information processing; Knowledge of Results (Psychology); Learning disabilities; Learning Disorders - complications; Learning Disorders - physiopathology; Learning Disorders - psychology; Male; Medical sciences; Motivation; Perceptual Masking - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychophysics; Reaction Time - physiology; Reward; specific learning disabilities; Visual Fields; Visual Perception - physiology; visual processing; Volition - physiology; Attention deficit disorder; specific learning disabilities; cognition; visual processing; motivation; information integration theory; Human; Information integration; Hyperactivity; Male; Preadolescent; School age; Attentional disorder; Learning disability; Vision; Information processing; Perception; Visual attention; Child; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0021-9630; 1469-7610
• DOI: 10.1111/1469-7610.00441

Boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD, N=50), Specific Learning Disorder (LD, N=45), combined Specific Learning Disorder and ADHD (LD/ADHD, N=25), and controls (N=51) completed effortful and automatic information processing tasks based on Treisman and Gelade's (1980) “information integration theory”. ADHD and LD/ADHD subjects did not differ from controls at baseline or under feedback and reward conditions, suggesting that they were investing similar levels of mental effort in the tasks. The LD group had a superior performance in the effortful task and an inferior performance in the automatic task compared with the other groups at baseline. The data suggest a potential method of distinguishing primary LD from learning difficulties that occur secondary to ADHD.