Relationships between Environmental Distractions and Task Performance of Hyperactive and Normal Children

Abstract

Thirteen hyperactive children and 11 normal children, all boys who were functioning at the second-grade level, were individually given four representative academic tasks in selected distracting environments during four one-hour testing sessions. Performance was measured by 'time-off' task, "time-to-complete" task, and number correct "score." Multivariate analyses of variance were used to determine whether hyperactive children were more distractible than normal children who were also distractible under similar conditions. The results clearly indicated that on a simple picture-completion task, hyperactive and normal subjects were equally distractible. Hyperactive children were not helped more than normal children by the presence of an adult except on a complex arithmetic task; their decrease in time-off on this task, however, was not accompanied by an increase in score performance. Hyperactive children did not improve more than normal children when placed in a distraction-free environment. Only on the complex arithmetic and creative-fun tasks did hyperactive children find manipulatable gadgets more distracting than did normal children. The increase in time-off did not result in deterioration of scores, however.