Conversion disorder in children and adolescents: A disorder of cognitive control

Objective To assess cognitive function in children and adolescents presenting with acute conversion symptoms. Methods Fifty‐seven participants aged 8.5–18 years (41 girls and 16 boys) with conversion symptoms and 57 age‐ and gender‐matched healthy controls completed the IntegNeuro neurocognitive battery, an estimate of intelligence, and self‐report measures of subjective emotional distress. Results Participants with conversion symptoms showed poorer performance within attention, executive function, and memory domains. Poorer performance was reflected in more errors on specific tests: Switching of Attention ( t (79) = 2.17, p  = .03); Verbal Interference ( t (72) = 2.64, p  = .01); Go/No‐Go ( t (73) = 2.20, p  = .03); Memory Recall and Verbal Learning (interference errors for memory recall; t (61) = 3.13, p  < .01); and short‐delay recall ( t (75) = 2.05, p  < .01) and long‐delay recall ( t (62) = 2.24, p  = .03). Poorer performance was also reflected in a reduced span of working memory on the Digit Span Test for both forward recall span ( t (103) = −3.64, p  < .001) and backward recall span ( t (100) = −3.22, p  < .01). There was no difference between participants and controls on IQ estimate ( t (94) = −589, p  = .56), and there was no correlation between cognitive function and perceived distress. Conclusions Children and adolescents with acute conversion symptoms have a reduced capacity to manipulate and retain information, to block interfering information, and to inhibit responses, all of which are required for effective attention, executive function, and memory.