Visuomotor Tracking Related to Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Abstract

Deficient visuomotor tracking in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been described, but the specific influence of attention on this deficit has not yet been elucidated. The present study compares visuomotor tracking under different conditions of attentional loading in children with ADHD with that of age-matched controls. A computerized visuomotor attentional tracking test that incorporated several levels of distraction was administered to 131 typical children. The same test, as well as a standard Matching Familiar Figures Test and the Proteus Maze test, was administered to 32 children with ADHD and 21 control children. Significant differences between children with ADHD and controls in visuomotor attentional tracking indices that relate to pacing and the accuracy of the tracking movements were observed under all levels of distraction. In parallel, a significant performance decrement was observed in all subjects once distraction was introduced. Discriminant analysis, based on the visuomotor attentional tracking test findings, resulted in correct classification of 92.3% of the typical children and 46% of the children with ADHD. Significant correlations between Matching Familiar Figures Test latency, as well as errors and visuomotor attentional tracking indices, were noted among children with ADHD when the visuomotor attentional tracking did not involve distraction. Under distraction, these correlations extended to the control group as well. In conclusion, visuomotor tracking appears to reflect the availability of attentional resources in general and is significantly affected by the presence of ADHD in particular. These results have potential implications related to the evaluation of children with ADHD on and off drugs. (J Child Neurol 2006;21:502—507; DOI 10.2310/7010.2006.00135

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Piek JP , Pitcher TM , Hay DA : Motor coordination and kinaesthesis in males with attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder. Dev Med Child Neurol 1999;41:159—165.

Hellgren L. , Gillberg C. , Gillberg IC , Enerskog I. : Motor control and perception (DAMP) almost grown up: General health at 16 years. Dev Med Child Neurol 1993;35:881—892.

Hellgren L. , Gillberg IC , Bagenholm A. , Gillberg C. : Children with deficits in attention, motor control and perception (DAMP) almost grown up—Psychiatric and personality disorders at age 16 years. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 1994;35:1255—1271.

Pitcher TM , Piek JP , Hay DA : Fine and gross motor ability in males with ADHD. Dev Med Child Neurol 2003; 45: 525—535.

Van der Meulen JH , Denier van der Gon JJ , Gielen CC , et al: Visuomotor performance of normal and clumsy children II. Arm tracking with and without visual feedback. Dev Med Child Neurol 1991 ;31:118—129.

Conners CK , Delameter A. : Visual-motor tracking by hyperkinetic children. Percept Mot Skills 1990;51:482—497.

Carlson CL : Attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity: A review of preliminary experimental evidence, in Lahey BB , Kazdin AE (eds): Advances in Clinical Child Psychology.Vol. 9. New York , Plenum Press, 153—175.

Conners CK : Rating scale for use in drug studies of children. Psychopharmacol Bull 1973;special issue:24—84.

Conners CK : A teaching rating scale for use in drug studies with children. Am J Psychiatry 1969;126:884—888.

10.

Hocherman H. , Levy H. : The role of feedback in manual tracking of visual targets. Percept Mot Skills 2000;90:1235—1248.

11.

Kagan J. , Rosman BL , Day D. : Information processing in children, significance of analytic and reflective attitude. Psychol Monogr 1964; 578:78 .

12.

Proteus SD : Proteus Maze Test: Fifty Years Application. Palo Alto, CA, Pacific Books, 1965.

13.

Ben Pazi H. , Gross-Tsur V. , Bergman H. , Shalev RS : Abnormal rhythmic motor response in children with attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorders. Dev Med Child Neruol 2003;45:743—745.

14.

Marken R. : The cause of control movements in a tracking task. Percept Mot Skills 1990;51:755—758.

15.

Kuntsi J. , Oosterlaan J. , Stevenson J. : Psychological mechanisms in hyperactivity: 1. Response inhibition deficit, working memory impairment, delay aversion, or something else? J Child Psychol 2001;42:199—210.

16.

Scheres A. , Oosterlaan J. , Sergeant JA : Response execution and inhibition in children with AD/HD and other disruptive disorders: The role of behavioral activation. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2001;42:347—357.

17.

Vickers JN , Rodrigues ST , Brown LN : Gaze pursuit and arm control of adolescent males diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) and normal controls; Evidence of a dissociation in processing visual information of short and long duration. J Sports Sci 2002;24:201—216.

18.

Berger A. , Posner MI : Pathologies of brain attentional networks. Neurol Biobehav Rev 2000 ;24:3-5.

19.

Banich MT , Milham MP , Atchley RA , et al: Prefrontal regions play a predominant role in imposing an attention set: Evidence from FMRI. Cogn Brain Res 2000 ;10:1—9.

20.

Brandeis D. , Van Leewen TA , Rubia K. , et al: Neuroelectronic mapping reveals precursor of stop failures in children with attention deficits. Behav Brain Rev 1998;94:111—125.