Premium
A Divided Attention Analysis of the Effects of Methylphenidate on the Arithmetic Performance of Children with Attention‐Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Author(s) -
Carlson Caryn L.,
Pelham William E.,
Swanson James M.,
Wagner Jana L.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1991.tb00324.x
Subject(s) - methylphenidate , psychology , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder , attention deficit disorder , selective attention , attention deficit , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , cognition
Thirteen boys with Attention‐Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) completed 80 arithmetic problems presented on a computer screen by typing a two digit answer. On half the trials, a foot press was required to terminate a computer‐generated tone presented 2 seconds before, 1 second before, 1 second after, and 2 seconds after arithmetic problem presentation. Compared to placebo, methylphenidate resulted in significantly faster reaction times (RTs) to tone probes and faster answers to arithmetic problems when the two tasks did not overlap in time, but not when simultaneous processing was required when the probe was presented 2 seconds after arithmetic problems. When dual processing taxed cognitive capacity, methylphenidate still improved accuracy on the primary arithmetic task relative to placebo, but at the expense of speed of performance on the secondary RT task. When ADHD children fail to allocate available resources to a primary cognitive task, treatment with methylphenidate may result in reallocation of existing cognitive capacity from a secondary task to the primary task.