Response Variability in Children with ADHD

描述（由申请人提供）：注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）儿童有许多神经心理功能障碍，包括反应抑制，工作记忆和注意力。一个神经心理学的结果测量，一贯揭示组间差异是反应的变异性。然而，直到最近，响应变异性的差异一直被报告为辅助发现或被视为分析中的麻烦。本研究的具体目的是：1）检查ADHD患者在神经心理学任务中的反应变异性，以了解这种特定缺陷的广度，并了解反应变异性与其他神经心理学结局指标之间的关系; 2）评估反应变异性缺陷是否特异于两种最常见的ADHD亚型（即，组合型[CT]和主要疏忽型[PIT]）; 3）确定ADHD患者的反应变异性是否受到药物或各种环境操纵（例如，reward）;（4）理解反应变异性的神经心理学测量与可变表现的自然主义实例之间的关系。将招募45名患有ADHD-CT的儿童（7-11岁），45名患有ADHD-PIT的儿童和45名正常对照，以检查各种神经心理学测试的反应变异性。任务参数，如事件发生率，刺激显着性，并存在操作性奖励将修改每个测试，以确定条件下，反应变异性表现在多动症儿童。此外，所有ADHD儿童将参加一项安慰剂对照的随机药物试验，使用精神兴奋剂药物，以评估药物对反应变异性的影响。先进的分析方法，利用非高斯分布和快速傅立叶变换的反应时间数据将被用来进行详细分析的RT模式在ADHD和正常对照组。此外，将检查任务参数操作和药物对反应变异性的影响。最后，神经心理学测试的反应变异性和反应变异性在各种现实世界的模拟情况之间的关系将被检查，以评估这些赤字的生态有效性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have numerous areas of neuropsychological dysfunction including response inhibition, working memory, and attention. One neuropsychological outcome measure that consistently reveals between-group differences is response variability. However, until recently, differences in response variability have been reported as an ancillary finding or viewed as a nuisance in the analyses. The specific aims of the present study are to 1) Examine response variability in ADHD patients across neuropsychological tasks to understand the breadth of this specific deficit and to understand the relation between response variability and other neuropsychological outcome measures; 2) Assess whether response variability deficits are specific to either or both of the two most prevalent ADHD subtypes (i.e., Combined Type [CT] and Predominantly Inattentive Type [PIT]); 3) Determine whether response variability in ADHD patients is affected by either medication or a variety of environmental manipulations (e.g., reward); and 4) Understand the relationship between neuropsychological measures of response variability and naturalistic instances of variable performance. Forty-five children (aged 7-11) with ADHD-CT, 45 children with ADHD-PIT, and 45 normal controls will be recruited to examine response variability across a wide range of neuropsychological tests. Task parameters such as event rate, stimulus saliency, and the presence of operant reward will be modified on each test to determine the conditions under which response variability is manifested in children with ADHD. In addition, all children with ADHD will participate in a placebo-controlled, randomized medication trial with a psychostimulant medication to assess the effects of medication on response variability. Advanced analytic methods utilizing non-Gaussian distributions and fast Fourier Transforms of the reaction time data will be used to conduct detailed analyses of RT patterns across the ADHD and normal control groups. Further, the effects of task parametric manipulations and medication on response variability will be examined. Finally, relations between response variability on neuropsychological tests and response variability in a variety of real-world analog situations will be examined to evaluate the ecological validity of these deficits.