Skip to main content

Television Viewing Methodology to Understand Cognitive Processing of ADHD Children

  • Chapter
Advances in Clinical Child Psychology

Part of the book series: Advances in Clinical Child Psychology ((ACCP,volume 16))

Abstract

A review of the literature on the cognitive processing of attention deficit hyperactivity disordered (ADHD) children reveals an almost exclusive focus on the nature of the attentional deficits these children experience. Based on these studies, there is general agreement that a core feature of ADHD is a difficulty sustaining attention (Douglas, 1983; Whalen, 1989), although this conclusion is not universally accepted (see Sergeant & van der Meere, 1990; Swanson, Shea, McBurnett, Potkin, Fiore, & Crinella, 1990). The importance of this attentional deficit is reflected in the most recent diagnostic criteria for the disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 1987), as well as in the results of classroom observation studies and laboratory tasks.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abikoff, H., Gittelman, R., & Klein, D. (1980). A classroom observation code for hyperactive children: A replication of validity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 555–565.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alwitt, L., Anderson, D., Lorch, E., & Levin, S. (1980). Preschool children’s visual attention to television. Human Communication Research, 7, 52–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed. revised). Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D. R., Choi, H. P., & Lorch, E. P. (1987). Attentional inertia reduces distractibility during young children’s TV viewing. Child Development, 58, 798–806.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D., Field, D., Collins, P., Lorch, E., & Nathan, J. (1985). Estimates of young children’s time with television: A methodological comparison of parent reports with time-lapse video home observation. Child Development, 56, 1345–1357.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D., & Levin, S. (1976). Young children’s attention to “Sesame Street.” Child Development, 47, 806–811.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D., & Lorch, E. (1983). Looking at television: Action or reaction? In J. Bryant & D. Anderson (Eds.), Children’s understanding of television: Research on attention and comprehension (pp. 1–33). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D., Lorch, E., Field, D., Collins, P., & Nathan, J. (1986). Television viewing at home: Age trends in visual attention and time with TV. Child Development, 57, 1024–1033.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D., Lorch, E., Field, D., & Sanders, J. (1981). The effects of TV program comprehensibility on preschool children’s visual attention to television. Child Development, 52, 151–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D., Lorch, E., Smith, R., Bradford, R., & Levin, S. (1981). Effects of peer presence on preschool children’s television viewing behavior. Developmental Psychology, 17, 446–453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • August, G. (1987). Production deficiencies in free recall: A comparison of hyperactive, learning-disabled, and normal children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 15, 429–440.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bryant, J., & Anderson, D. (1983). Children’s understanding of television: Research on attention and comprehension. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvert, S., Huston, A., Watkins, A., & Wright, J. (1982). The effects of selective attention to television forms on children’s comprehension of content. Child Development, 53, 601–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ceci, S., & Tishman, J. (1984). Hyperactivity and incidental memory: Evidence for attentional diffusion. Child Development, 55, 2192–2203.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, V. (1983). Attentional and cognitive problems. In M. Rutter (Ed.), Developmental neuropsychiatry (pp. 280–329). New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, V., & Peters, K. (1979). Toward a clearer definition of the attentional deficit of hyperactive children. In G. Hale & M. Lewis (Eds.), Attention and the development of cognitive skills (pp. 173–247). New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, L., & Dunn, L. (1981). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Field, D., & Anderson, D. (1985). Instruction and modality effects on children’s television attention and comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 77, 91–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons, J., Anderson, D., Smith, R., Field, D., & Fischer, C. (1986). Young children’s recall and reconstruction of audio and audiovisual narratives. Child Development, 57, 1014–1023.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hagen, J., & Hale, G. (1973). The development of attention in children. In A. Pick (Ed.), Minnesota symposia on child psychology (Vol. 7, pp. 117–140). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halperin, J., O’Brien, J., Newcorn, J., Healey, J., Pascualvaca, D., Wolf, L., & Young, J. (1990). Validation of aggressive, hyperactive, and mixed hyperactive/aggressive childhood disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 31, 455–459.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halperin, J., Wolf, L., Pascualvaca, D., Newcorn, J., Healey, J., O’Brien, J., Morganstein, A., & Young, J. (1988). Differential assessment of attention and impulsivity in children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 27, 326–329.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hooks, K., Milich, R., & Lorch, E. (1992). Sustained and selective attention in attention deficit hyperactivity disordered boys. Manuscript submitted for publication.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huston, A., & Wright, J. (1983). Children’s processing of television: The informative functions of formal features. In J. Bryant & D. Anderson (Eds.), Children’s understanding of television: Research on attention and comprehension (pp. 35–68). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landau, S., Lorch, E., & Milich, R. (1992). Visual attention to and comprehension of television in attention-deficit hyperactivity disordered and nonreferred boys. Child Development, 63, 928–937.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lesser, G. S. (1974). Children and television: Lessons from “Sesame Street.” New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liebert, R., Sprafkin, J., & Davidson, E. (1982). The early window: Effects of television on children and youth (2d ed.) New York: Pergamon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loney, J., & Milich, R. (1982). Hyperactivity, inattention, and aggression in clinical practice. In M. Wolraich & D. Routh (Eds.), Advances in developmental and behavioral pediatrics (Vol. 3, pp. 113–147). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorch, E. (in press). Measuring children’s cognitive processing of television. In A. Lang (Ed.), Measuring psychological responses to media messages. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorch, E., & Anderson, D. (1984). The development of maintained attention. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorch, E., & Castle, V (in press). Preschool children’s attention to television: Visual attention and probe response times. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorch, E., Anderson, D., & Levin, S. (1979). The relationship of visual attention to children’s comprehension of television. Child Development, 50, 722–727.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lorch, E., Bellack, D., & Augsbach, L. (1987). Young children’s memory for televised stories: Effects of importance. Child Development, 58, 453–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorch, E., Milich, R., Welsh, R., Yocum, M., Bluhm, C., & Klein, M. (1987). A comparison of the television viewing and comprehension of attention deficit disordered and normal boys. Presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorch, E., Milich, R., Hooks, K., Baer, S., Auter, P., & Welsh, R. (1991). Attention to and comprehension of television in ADHD and normal boys. Presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyle, L., & Hoffman, H. (1972). Children’s use of television and other media. In E. Rubinstein, G. Comstock, & J. Murray (Eds.), Television and social behavior (Vol. 4), Television in day-to-day life: Patterns of use (pp. 257–273). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milch-Reich, S., Campbell, S., & Connelley, L. (1992, February). ADHD children’s on-line representations of dynamic social events: Theoretical framework and statement of the problem. In R. Milich (Chair), Cognitive mediators of ADHD. Symposium presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psycho-pathology, Sarasota, FL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milich, R., & Fitzgerald, G. (1985). Validation of inattention/overactivity and aggression ratings with classroom observations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 139–140.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Milich, R., Loney, J., & Landau, S. (1982). Independent dimensions of hyperactivity and aggression: Validation with playroom observation data. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 91, 183–198.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Milich, R., Widiger, T., & Landau, S. (1987). Differential diagnosis of attention deficit and conduct disorders using conditional probabilities. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 762–767.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Milich, R., Lorch, E., Murphy, A., & Pelham, W. (1988). ADHD and normal boys’ attention to and comprehension of television. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Atlanta, GA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nuechterlein, K. (1983). Signal detection in vigilance tasks and behavioral attributes among offspring of schizophrenic mothers and among hyperactive children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 92, 4–28.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill, M. E., & Douglas, V. I. (1991). Study strategies and story recall in attention deficit disorder and reading disability. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 19, 671–692.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pelham, W., & Milich, R. (1992). Measuring ADHD children’s response to psychostimulant medication: Prediction and individual differences. In B. P. Osman & L. Greenhill (Eds.), Ritalin: Theory and patient management (pp. 203–221). New York: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelham, W., Milich, R., Murphy, D., & Murphy, H. (1989). Normative data for the IOWA Conners. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 18, 259–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Radosh, A., & Gittelman, R. (1981). The effect of appealing distractors on the performance of hyperactive children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 9, 179–189.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, R., & Allen, T. (1980). Intratask distractibility in hyperkinetic and non-hyperkinetic children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 8, 175–187.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Semrud-Clikeman, M., Biederman, J., Sprich-Buckminster, S., Lehman, B. K., Faraone, S. V., & Norman, D. (1992). Comorbidity between ADDH and learning disability: A review and report in a clinically referred sample. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31, 439–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sergeant, J., & van der Meere, J. (1990). Convergence of approaches in localizing the hyperactivity deficit. In B. Lahey & A. Kazdin (Eds.), Advances in clinical child psychology (Vol. 13, pp. 207–246). New York: Plenum Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sprafkin, J., Gadow, K. D., & Grayson, P. (1984). Television and the emotionally disturbed, learning disabled, and mentally retarded child: A review. In K. D. Gadow (Ed.), Advances in learning and behavioral disabilities (Vol. 3, pp. 151–213). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swanson, J. M., Shea, C., McBurnett, K., Potkin, S. G., Fiore, C., & Crinella, F. (1990). Attention and hyperactivity. In J. Enns (Ed.), The Development of Attention: Research and Theory (pp. 383–403). New York: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarnowski, K. J., Prinz, R. J., & Nay, S. M. (1986). ComChapautive analysis of attentional deficits in hyperactive and learning-disabled children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 341–345.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Trabasso, T., Secco, T., & van den Broek, P. (1984). Causal cohesion and story coherence. In M. Mandl, N. L. Stein, & T. Trabasso (Eds.), Learning and comprehension of text (pp. 83–111). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trabasso, T., & van den Broek, P. (1985). Causal thinking and the representation of narrative events. Journal of Memory and Language, 24, 612–630.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trabasso, T., van den Broek, P., & Liu, L. (1988). A model for generating questions that assess and promote comprehension. Questioning Exchange, 2, 25–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • van den Broek, P. (1989). Causal reasoning and inference making in judging the importance of story statements. Child Development, 60, 286–297.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van den Broek, P., Lorch, E., & Thurlow, R. (1992). Effects of causal structure, story-grammar categories, and episodic level on children’s and adults’ memory for television stories. Manuscript submitted for publication.

    Google Scholar 

  • Voelker, S. L., Carter, R. A., Sprague, D. J., Gdowski, C. L., & Lachar, D. (1989). Developmental trends in memory and metamemory in children with attention deficit disorder. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 14, 75–88.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Well, A. D., Lorch, E. P., & Anderson, D. R. (1980). Developmental trends in distrac-tibility: Is absolute or proportional decrement the appropriate measure of interference? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 30, 109–124.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whalen, C. (1989). Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders. In T. H. Ollendick & M. Hersen (Eds.), Handbook of child psychopathology (2nd ed., pp. 131–169). New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zentall, S. S., & Zentall, T. R. (1983). Optimal stimulation: A model of disordered activity and performance in normal and deviant children. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 446–471.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Milich, R., Lorch, E.P. (1994). Television Viewing Methodology to Understand Cognitive Processing of ADHD Children. In: Ollendick, T.H., Prinz, R.J. (eds) Advances in Clinical Child Psychology. Advances in Clinical Child Psychology, vol 16. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9041-2_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9041-2_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-9043-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-9041-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics