多动症儿童的智力水平、行为与认知事件相关电位的研究

通过对多动症 (MBD)儿童的智力、行为和认知事件相关电位的分析研究,发现多动症儿童的智力水平正常但均数都低于正常儿童,行为问题的检出率和行为量表指数高于一般正常儿童,反映大脑认知功能的事件相关电位的N2、P3的潜伏期较之正常儿童组均延长,且差异均达到显著性水平。     

多动症儿童的心理评定和家庭因素的关系

本研究结果显示多动症儿童在行为评定量表、注意划消测验、本德尔视觉运动格式塔测验、本统视觉保持测验及智力测验等心理评定项目中,与正常儿童有着明显的差异。多动症儿童父母对待子女的态度及家庭教育方式和儿童的认知、行为、学习有明显的关系。家庭因素对多动症的发生和发展有重要的影响。心理评定为多动症的诊断提供客观的参考依据。     

攻击性儿童的P300事件相关电位研究

运用听觉P300任务对攻击性儿童(17人,其中16名男孩,1名女孩)与对照组的正常儿童( 人数与性别分布同攻击组)的事件相关电位(ERP)进行比较,发现攻击性儿童P30 0的潜伏期较长,波幅尤其是额部波幅较小,表明攻击性个体存在认知加工缺陷,特别是选择性注意与调控机能缺陷.研究结果同时表明P300可以作为鉴别攻击性个体的一个可靠指标.     

多动症儿童的家庭环境、注意行为及外周肾上腺素的分泌模式

本文对多动症儿童及在性别、年龄和学习年级上相匹配的正常儿童的家庭环境、注意行为及外周肾上腺素的分泌模式进行了探讨。结果表明,家庭环境,特别是父母的文化程度、行为、及父母与儿童之间的关系在儿童多动症病因学的研究中是不可忽视的重要因素。儿童注意行为测试及注意与非注意状态下尿中肾上腺素含量的动态分析可为多动症儿童注意缺陷障碍的有效诊断提供客观指标。本文还进一步提出和讨论了多动症病因机制的新假设。     

关于儿童多动症的表现特征及教育措施的浅谈

多动症是学龄前儿童出现的比较突出的行为问题。有相关研究资料表明,近年来我国多动症儿童发病率越来越高,有的甚至延续到成年。多动症又称为注意力缺陷和活动过度,常常表现情绪易激动,注意力不集中,易转移,动作协调能力差,认知功能障碍等。而这些行为的出现严重地影响了学龄前儿童的学习成绩,更是学龄前儿童社会性发展的重大障碍。     

基于中央执行功能的儿童工作记忆可塑性机制

近期的研究发现儿童的工作记忆能力具有一定的可塑性。研究者采用双盲对照实验设计, 通过改编的工作记忆广度、N-back、活动记忆和GO-NOGO等任务对15岁以下的正常儿童和特殊儿童(多动症、智力低下等)的工作记忆能力进行训练, 训练的周期一般为15~30天不等, 每天训练时长约15~25分钟。研究结果发现, 工作记忆训练不仅可以提高儿童的工作记忆能力, 而且还可以迁移至其它高级认知功能(流体智力、数学能力等), 甚至可以改善多动症儿童的临床症状。研究者还发现这种训练效应可以保持3~6个月。通过工作记忆中央执行功能的训练, 是否可以促进儿童认知功能的发展？儿童认知功能的可塑性表现为短暂的提高还是促进认知发展？中央执行功能的训练如何影响儿童认知加工过程的发展？这些问题的回答对于近一步探索认知活动和认知神经的可塑性具有一定的理论意义。可以为工作记忆缺陷儿童的临床干预和治疗提供有效的工具, 具有实践意义。     

ADHD儿童的病因、诊断及心理干预

ADHD是儿童常见的心理障碍,临床表现为以多动为主的行为问题,其病因包括各种生理因素和社会心理因素,参照SDM-Ⅳ提出具体的儿童多动症诊断标准,对儿童多动症的心理干预提出了支持性心理治疗、行为治疗、运动和游戏治疗以及认知——行为治疗等具体的策略。现在的发展趋势是系统的和整合的心理干预。     

多动症儿童教育方式研究

本文选取35名多动症儿童为被试,采用《康纳多动症评分量表》对经医学确诊的多动症儿童进行可疑程度分析.采用姚树桥、龚耀先编制的《儿童适应行为评定量表》对被试的社会适应行为进行评量.结果表明:多动症儿童在不同程度上存在适应行为问题,特别是在社会责任方面的水平较低,从年龄发展来看多动症儿童在小学三、四年级时适应水平最低.据此提出教育训练的重点和教育建议.     

多动症儿童教育方式研究

本文选取35名多动症儿童为被试,采用《康纳多动症评分量表》对经医学确诊的多动症儿童进行可疑程度分析。采用姚树桥、龚耀先编制的《儿童适应行为评定量表》对被试的社会适应行为进行评量。结果表明:多动症儿童在不同程度上存在适应行为问题,特别是在社会责任方面的水平较低,从年龄发展来看多动症儿童在小学三、四年级时适应水平最低。据此提出教育训练的重点和教育建议。     

儿童多动综合症

多动综合症又称注意缺陷障碍,常见于儿童,特别是小学年龄的男孩。该病对儿童的发育、学习、心理等方面均有很大影响,因此引起医学界人士和心理学家的广泛注意。与大多数其它儿童行为失调疾病相比,多动症受到了更深入的研究。本文就多动症的术语、诊断、病因、预后及治疗作一综合介绍,目的是加深对儿童多动症的认识,并对当前的研究工作提出一点看法。     

Pupillary and heart rate reactivity in children with minimal brain dysfunction

This study attempted to replicate and extend previous findings on autonomic arousal and responsivity in children with diagnoses of minimal brain dysfunction (MBD). Pupil size, heart rate, skin conductance, and skin temperature were recorded from 32 MBD and 45 control children during a session that included presentation of visual stimuli, simple reaction time (RT), a cold pressor procedure, and rest periods. The MBD children were tested both off and on clinical dosages of stimulant drugs in a crossover design. Evidence of higher than normal arousal levels in the unmedicated MBD Ss was obtained from resting skin conductance and, more tenuously, from pupil size. Lower phasic responsivity in the MBD children was evidenced by slower RT, less cardiac deceleration to both light and RT stimuli, and smaller pupil dilation to the RT stimuli. Spontaneous pupillary constrictions during rest periods, presumably indicating drowsiness, were observed about equally in MBD and control children. Stimulant drugs raised arousal levels but did not reverse the responsivity deficits. The lower phasic reactivity in the MBD group and the effects of stimulant drugs on arousal indices confirm earlier reports. The finding of higher arousal in drug-free MBD children is incompatible with the low arousal hypothesis of MBD but is consistent with a previous report of the effects of a stimulating environment on these children.This work was supported in part by a grant from the Ittleson Family Foundation. The authors thank Frank Abate for technical assistance.     

Naming of object-drawings by dyslexic and other learning disabled children

On the Oldfield-Wingfield Picture-Naming Test, sensitive to subtle chronic dysphasia in adults, dyslexic children name fewer pictures correctly. Even when correct on words with less than 30 per million frequency of occurrence, they perform more slowly than do nondyslexic subjects suffering from minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) or normal controls. However, there is no evidence for “perceptual impairment” underlying dyslexic subjects' low scores and prolonged latencies, as the distribution of their errors is similar to that of normal children. Rather it is the nondyslexic MBD group which produces a high percentage of wrong names, suggestive of mistaking the pictured stimuli for other, visually similar, objects.     

Value of "suture bones" in the diagnosis of minor brain damage in early childhood

In a sample of 278 children with normal intelligence and behaviour disorders the x-rays of the craniums were analysed especially on the aspect of suture bones. They were related to the clinical total diagnosis "Minimal Brain Damage". Statistically significant relations between the appearance of suture-bones and other cranium anomalies as well as between clinical total diagnosis "MBD" were to be found. So the results by D. Müller on the clinical value of suture-bones are supported.     

The multiple baseline design across exemplars

Three variations of the multiple baseline design (MBD) have been identified in the behavioral literature: MBD across behaviors, subjects and situations. This analysis proposes an important variant of the MBD across behaviors, namely the MBD across exemplars. In this variant, two or more components (exemplars) of the behavior class form the baselines of the design. Thus, intervention is applied separately and sequentially to each target exemplar. The implicit rule of the MBD across exemplars can be seen in several published papers in the behavioral literature. The value of recognizing this variant of the MBD across behaviors is its usefulness as an alternative experimental intervention in clinical settings where the possibility of a convincing research design might not otherwise be seen.     

Physiologic and motor conditioning and generalization in children with minimal brain dysfunction

Twenty-six children diagnosed as having minimal brain dysfunctions (MBD) were compared with 26 controls in a conditinoing and generalization procedure. Skin resistance, heart rate, and muscle action potentials were monitored throughout. Success involved learning which of two tones signalled the accessibility of a penny. Whereas 92 per cent of controls reached the criterion of five successive correct responses, only 62 per cent of MBD’s did. Further, a third of the MBD’s were so maladaptive as to force procedural variations, while only a few minor irregularities occurred with the controls. Quality of performance was related to age, intelligence, and ability to discriminate and remember tones. Controls were more physiologically reactive than MBD’s, especially in skin resistance. Physiologic differentiation of the two tones was significant in both groups of children and appeared concurrently with motor differentiation. The only evidence of physiologic generalization was in the SR data of controls. The possibility that defective arousal structures, or defective coupling of arousal structures and other perceptual and motor structures, could account for the decreased physiologic reactivity, short attention spans, and poor concentration ofsome MBD’s is discussed. This research, in conformity with other laboratory studies of the brain, indicates that motivational as well as cognitive defects may be organically based.     

Replications and Limitations of a Two-Factor Model of Child Witness Credibility

Two experiments are reported that test the idea that jurors perceive child witnesses in terms of a 2-factor model of credibility with the factors defined as cognitive ability and honesty (Leippe & Romanczyk, 1987; Ross, Millers, & Moran, 1989). In the first experiment, 300 mock jurors watched a realistic videotaped recreation of a sexual abuse trial and rated the credibility of the child witness. Mock jurors perceived the child witness in terms of 2 factors: cognitive ability and honesty. Only honesty predicted verdict. These findings were replicated in Experiment 2 ( N = 300) when only the child's testimony was presented and the perceptions of the child witness were not contaminated by the testimony of the other witnesses in the trial.     

Parenting Stress and Childhood Psychopathology: An Examination of Specificity to Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms

The purpose of this study was to examine if specificity exists between three factors of parenting stress (i.e., parental distress, parent–child (PC) dysfunctional interactions, and difficult child) and childhood internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The incremental validity of parenting stress beyond parental psychopathology was also examined. The sample was drawn from families of children aged 5–17 (N = 300), who sought treatment for their child from a community mental health clinic. Results indicated that the PC dysfunctional interactions factor showed specificity to internalizing symptoms when controlling for parental psychopathology. Parental distress did not show specificity or incremental validity and the difficult child factor was associated with both internalizing and externalizing symptoms when controlling for parental psychopathology. The influence of age, gender, and ethnicity on these associations is also presented, and findings are discussed in terms of how the results add to understanding the specific relations between parenting stress and child and adolescent symptoms.     

Favouritism,fairness and joint profit in long-term relationships

This study was designed to test a number of hypotheses about the use of FAV and other strategies as measured by the intergroup ‘matrices’ in four long-term relationships-with spouse, child, friend and workmate. Forty subjects filled in matrices giving three measures of self-favouritism (FAV), and one each of fairness (F) and maximum joint profit (MJP), in relation to the allocation of money and time. It was found that FAV was not used for spouse, and was used less for child than for the non-family relationships (p < 0.01, p < 0.05). There was also an influence of altruism (A) against FAV, when time was distributed between spouse (p < 0.01) or child (p < 0.001) and the self. F was used most for spouse, followed by child, friend and workmate (p < 0.001), and was used more by females in distributing money (p < 0.01). MJP was not used at all for money, but was used to some extent for time.     

Physiological learning theory

Attention or concentration requires control of activity in those excess neurons that are not necessary for the present task. The control is probably not a massive inhibitory suppression but may be a recruiting process, a function of complex perceptual and associative learning that begins with early experience. Inhibition, however, may still be of crucial importance as a sharpener of associative mechanisms, and the child with minimal brain damage may have suffered a selective loss of inhibitory neurons.Paper prepared for reading at the Ciba Medical Horizons conference on MBD (minimal brain dysfunction), Omaha, Nebraska, April 2, 1976.