Impulsivity And Accuracy Of Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Background: Inhibition of responses in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder has shown to be reduced. It is theorized and debated that ADHD comes from a
dysfunctional inhibitory process. Studies have revealed that selective attention is not as
affected by ADHD as sustained attention. This research project aims to further
investigate these theories and answer the question: Does ADHD cause children to
become more impulsive, is the impulsivity accurate when set to a visual task, and do
visual diagnoses play a role?
Methods: Fifteen subjects ages twelve or under that have or have not been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were tested for impulsivity and accuracy of visual attention by using the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT). Their scores were be compared to the age-related norms determined by the MFFT for standardized scoring. These results were evaluated for consistent patterns of irregularities between the impulsivity scores, the accuracy scores, and visual diagnoses found throughout the examination.
Results: Of the fifteen patients involved in this study, three were diagnosed with ADHD, one subject was suspected to have ADHD, and the remaining eleven subjects had no formal diagnosis or suspicion of ADHD. In analyzing the data, two subjects scored in the more reflective than impulsive category, the other thirteen subjects scored in the impulsive category. When comparing error scores, four subjects scored in the inefficient category while the remaining eleven scored in the efficient category. The data shows that children with ADHD scored slightly more impulsive and more inefficient than the children without ADHD. With visual diagnoses taking into consideration, there was no correlation between subjects with and without ADHD related to their visual diagnoses. Conclusion: The small sample size used in this study limits the data available for analysis. With more participating subjects, a similar study may demonstrate more accurately whether children with ADHD have a difficult time with visual attention tasks, resulting in poor academic performance and poor cooperation in the exam room. This could help us better understand the challenges our patients face, and better cater to their needs.