多动症儿童与认知事件相关电位的实验研究

本研究通过对29名多动症(MBD)儿童与正常儿童认知事件相关电位各成份的比较,结果发现多动症组与正常儿童组在反映大脑认知功能P300潜伏期有明显的差异,从而说明P300可以作为检测多动症儿童的参考性的客观指标。     

认知事件相关电位P_(300)与儿童的智力水平和年龄特征

诱发电位 (EP) ,亦称事件相关电位 (ERP) ,是神经系统活动功能的电生理指标。认知事件相关电位 P3 0 0 作为反映个体大脑认知功能的神经电生理的重要指标已经被许多有关研究所采纳。本研究从神经电生理的角度 ,一方面对认知事件相关电位 P3 0 0 与儿童的智力水平的关系进行测查 ,一方面对认知事件相关电位 P3 0 0 的年龄特点进行研究 ,以期了解和说明儿童认知发展的神经电生理基础及其年龄特征。实验表明 :儿童智力水平与 P3 0 0 各成分潜伏期呈负相关 ,与反映认知功能的主要指标 P3 的负相关达到非常显著水平 (P <0 .0 0 1 ) ,与 P3 0 0 各成分的振幅基本呈正相关 ,儿童不同智力水平之间 ,其反应认知功能的主要指标 P3 的潜伏期差异非常显著。儿童青少年 P3 0 0 的各潜伏期的发展总趋势随年龄增长而下降。其中 ,P3 的潜伏期随年龄增长而下降的趋势更为明显。P3 的振幅则随年龄增长而增大。六个年龄组间 P3 0 0 各成分差异均达到非常显著水平 (P <0 .0 0 1 )。     

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。     

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。     

以超常儿童为被试的个体差异研究

有关个体差异的问题一直是心理学家和社会公众所感兴趣的。作者及其研究组今年来一直致力于个体差异的研究,特别是以智力超常儿童为被试,比较他们与常态儿童在认知、社会性和神经活动方面的差异。研究的目的是试图回答诸如“为什么有些孩子比其他孩子表现等更优秀？”等问题。作者对超常儿童与常态儿童在智力、信息加工速度、事件相关电位及自我概念等方面的差异做了总结     

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。     

儿童 P300与行为问题和智力不平衡的关系

本文探讨儿童听觉P300与行为问题和智力不平衡的关系。分别采用儿童行为问卷(CBCL)和韦氏儿童智力测验(WISC—CR)评价儿童的行为和智力水平,采用听觉Oddball模式检测儿童的事件相关电位。结果表明,智力不平衡和P300潜伏期延迟提示的脑功能损伤可相互验证,混合问题儿童脑功能损伤程度比单一问题儿童严重,智力不平衡且有混合问题儿童的脑功能损伤更有可能是器质性的。     

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。     

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。     

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.     

智力与心理速度的关系研究述评

目前在智力研究领域出现了一种新的研究趋势,研究者开始关注心理计量学智力与认知或生理心理学变量的相关,考察的重点是心理速度,相应的测量指标主要有检测时（IT）、反应时、ERP或神经传导速度,等等。在运用IT任务进行的ERP研究中发现,ERP波幅和潜伏期的不同往往能够反映出智力上的差异。信息加工速度和神经传导速度均与一般智力因素（g因素）存在较高的相关。上述研究发现促进了智力与心理速度关系的跨学科研究,成为智力研究领域中的热点     

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.     

COGNITIVE PROFILES OF READING-DISABLED CHILDREN:

Abstract— A comprehensive cognitive appraisal of elementary school children with learning disabilities showed that within the language sphere, deficits associated with reading disability are selective. Phonological deficits consistently accompany reading problems whether they occur in relatively pure form or in the presence of coexisting attention deficit or arithmetic disability. Although reading-disabled children were also deficient in production of morphologically related forms, this difficulty stemmed in large part from the same weakness in the phonological component that underlies reading disability. In contrast, tests of syntactic knowledge did not distinguish reading-disabled children from those with other cognitive disabilities, nor from normal children after covarying for intelligence.     

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.     

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.     

Working memory and fluid intelligence in young children

The present study investigates how working memory and fluid intelligence are related in young children and how these links develop over time. The major aim is to determine which aspect of the working memory system—short-term storage or cognitive control—drives the relationship with fluid intelligence. A sample of 119 children was followed from kindergarten to second grade and completed multiple assessments of working memory, short-term memory, and fluid intelligence. The data showed that working memory, short-term memory, and fluid intelligence were highly related but separate constructs in young children. The results further showed that when the common variance between working memory and short-term memory was controlled, the residual working memory factor manifested significant links with fluid intelligence whereas the residual short-term memory factor did not. These findings suggest that in young children cognitive control mechanisms rather than the storage component of working memory span tasks are the source of their link with fluid intelligence.     

Motor and cognitive proficiency of learning disabled and normal children

Motor and cognitive skills of learning disabled (N = 32) and normal (N = 32) boys were compared on the Modified Lincoln-Oseretsky Motor Development Scale and on the WISC-R Vocabulary and Block Design subtests. Eight learning disabled and eight normal boys were tested at four age levels from 8 to 11 years. All boys were of normal intelligence. Motor and cognitive skills of the learning disabled boys were significantly below those of the normal boys and below those of the normative group. Chronological age was not a significant factor in relationship to either motor or cognitive skills. Intercorrelations indicated that in the learning disabled group Block Design, but not Vocabulary, was significantly related to motor scores at the 8- and 9-year ages. These results suggest that a common factor relating to perceptual-motor coordination and efficiency may be involved on the Lincoln-Oseretsky and Block Design subtest for young learning disabled children but not for older learning disabled children or for normal children.