Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-18T21:00:22.200Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sense of time in children with ADHD: Effects of duration, distraction, and stimulant medication

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1997

RUSSELL A. BARKLEY
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA
SETH KOPLOWITZ
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA
TAMARA ANDERSON
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA
MARY B. McMURRAY
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA

Abstract

A recent theory of ADHD predicts a deficiency in sense of time in the disorder. Two studies were conducted to test this prediction, and to evaluate the effects of interval duration, distraction, and stimulant medication on the reproductions of temporal durations in children with ADHD. Study I: 12 ADHD children and 26 controls (ages 6–14 years) were tested using a time reproduction task in which subjects had to reproduce intervals of 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 s. Four trials at each duration were presented with a distraction occurring on half of these trials. Control subjects were significantly more accurate than ADHD children at most durations and were unaffected by the distraction. ADHD children, in contrast, were significantly less accurate when distracted. Both groups became less accurate with increasing durations to be reproduced. Study II: Tested three doses of methylphenidate (MPH) and placebo on the time reproductions of the 12 ADHD children. ADHD children became less accurate with increasing durations and distraction was found to reduce accuracy at 36 s or less. No effects of MPH were evident. The results of these preliminary studies seem to support the prediction that sense of time is impaired in children with ADHD. The capacity to accurately reproduce time intervals in ADHD children does not seem to improve with administration of stimulant medication. (JINS, 1997, 3, 359–369.)

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1997 The International Neuropsychological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)