DEVELOPMENT OF LATERALIZED SUSTAINED ATTENTION IN ADD

描述（改编自申请人摘要）：拟定的 神经心理学模型提出了一个新的和重要的假设， 注意力缺陷障碍（ADD）的注意力缺陷， 暗示右半球（RH）功能障碍。 该模型提出 该缺陷导致持续注意力的暂时丧失（即， 超过几秒）而不是长期的赤字（即，超过分钟）。 本研究将探讨偏侧化的发展， 注意力的维持在儿童和成人与和没有ADD。 实验一将获得规范性数据，以表明相对湿度服务于 内源性注意警觉功能。 三个年龄组（10、14、18-20岁 将对非ADD（NADD）个体进行偏侧化测试， 持续关注。 实验2将提供对模型的直接检验 通过比较ADD和NADD儿童和成人， 偏侧注意任务 我们假设患有ADD的个体， 与NADD个体不同，对于偏侧化， 保持注意力并提供外源性线索以重新定向注意力 将为ADD和NADD组产生等效性能。 这项工作将 为该领域做出了重要贡献。 一是 有助于越来越多的研究试图联系 行为症状的添加到大脑功能，从而提供了一个新的 解释和研究注意力问题的框架。 其次，这些结果可能对理解 注意力缺失的发展过程和注意力问题的持续存在 成年 第三，研究结果可能对治疗有意义 最后，它将提供重要的信息 关于正常和失调注意力的发展。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): The proposed neuropsychological model suggests a new and important hypothesis about the attention deficit in Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and strongly implicates dysfunction in the right hemisphere (RH). This model proposes that the deficit results in momentary lapses of sustained attention (i.e., over seconds) rather than a long-term deficit (i.e., over minutes). The proposed studies will investigate the development of lateralized maintenance of attention in children and adults with and without ADD. Experiment I will obtain normative data to show that the RH serves an endogenous attentional alerting function. Three age groups (10, 14, 18-20 year-olds) of NonADD (NADD) individuals will be given a lateralized test of sustained attention. Experiment 2 will provide a direct test of the model by allowing a comparison of ADD and NADD children and adults on a lateralized attention task. We hypothesize that individuals with ADD, unlike NADD individuals, will not show RH superiority for lateralized maintenance of attention and providing exogenous cues to reorient attention will produce equivalent performance for ADD and NADD groups. This work will make several important contributions to the field. First, it will contribute to the growing number of studies attempting to link the behavioral symptoms of ADD to brain functioning, thereby providing a new framework for interpreting and studying attentional problems in ADD. Second, the results could have important implications for understanding the developmental course of ADD and the persistence of attentional problems into adulthood. Third, the results may have implications for treatment strategies for ADD. Finally, it will provide important information regarding the development of normal and dysfunctional attention.