Title

Hyperactivity In Boys With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd): A Ubiquitous Core Symptom Or Manifestation Of Working Memory Deficits?

Keywords

Activity level; ADHD; Attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder; Hyperactivity; Working memory

Abstract

Hyperactivity is currently considered a core and ubiquitous feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, an alternative model challenges this premise and hypothesizes a functional relationship between working memory (WM) and activity level. The current study investigated whether children's activity level is functionally related to WM demands associated with the domain-general central executive and subsidiary storage/rehearsal components using tasks based on Baddeley's (Working memory, thought, and action. New York: Oxford University Press 2007) WM model. Activity level was objectively measured 16 times per second using wrist- and ankle-worn actigraphs while 23 boys between 8 and 12 years of age completed control tasks and visuospatial/ phonological WM tasks of increasing memory demands. All children exhibited significantly higher activity rates under all WM relative to control conditions, and children with ADHD (n∈=∈12) moved significantly more than typically developing children (n∈=∈11) under all conditions. Activity level in all children was associated with central executive but not storage/rehearsal functioning, and higher activity rates exhibited by children with ADHD under control conditions were fully attenuated by removing variance directly related to central executive processes. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Publication Date

5-1-2009

Publication Title

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

Volume

37

Issue

4

Number of Pages

521-534

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-008-9287-8

Socpus ID

64249103825 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/64249103825

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