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Continuous Performance Tests Are Sensitive to ADHD in Adults but Lack Specificity
Author(s) -
RICCIO CYNTHIA A.,
REYNOLDS CECIL R.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2001.tb05776.x
Subject(s) - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder , psychology , clinical psychology , attention deficit , executive dysfunction , psychiatry , developmental psychology , medicine , cognition , neuropsychology
A bstract : Historically, the focus for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been on children, with considerable research and many opinions available in this area. More recently, the focus has been expanded to include ADHD in adults. Assessment of ADHD in adults is complicated by the high rate of co‐occurring disorders as well as symptom overlap with a number of disorders. One popular family of measures for the assessment of attention and executive control is the continuous performance test (CPT). A review of the available research on CPTs reveals that they are quite sensitive to CNS dysfunction. This is both a strength and a limitation of CPTs in that multiple disorders can result in impaired performance on a CPT. The high sensitivity of CPTs is further complicated by the multiple variations of CPTs available, some of which may be more sensitive or demonstrate better specificity to ADHD in adults than others. If CPTs are to be used clinically, further research will be needed to answer the questions raised by this review.