Visual and auditory attention performance in hyperactive children: Competence or compliance

The effect of self-control and compliance on the attentional performance of hyperactive children was assessed. Visual and auditory attention tasks were presented in conditions in which the experimenter was either absent and therefore not imposing external control, or present and therefore imposing some degree of control. There was no difference in performance between hyperactives and controls when the experimenter was present, but the hyperactives' performance showed a greater deterioration than controls when the experimenter was absent. The amount of movement displayed during the tasks was greater for hyperactives and increased more for this group during experimenter-absent conditions. The results support the contention that noncompliance is a major contributor to the poor performance of hyperactive children, which can be seen as an application deficit rather than an ability deficit. These findings have relevance for the current debate on the association between hyperactivity and conduct disorder, and from an applied perspective they serve to stress the importance of situational contributors to the problem behaviors of hyperactive children.     

Schedule-induced behavior in hyperactive children

A schedule-induced behavior paradigm was used to investigate the activity patterns of hyperactive children in a standardized situation. In Experiment I, 10 hyperactive and 10 normal control children matched for age, sex, and IQ were observed under conditions of baseline and schedule. Measures of a number of categorized activities were taken on a time-sampling basis. Hyperactive children were more active than controls in baseline and did not respond to the schedule, unlike the controls who became significantly more active in schedule conditions. In Experiment II, 12 hyperactive and 6 normal children were again subjected to the same experimental paradigm, but in two of the four experimental sessions the stimulant drug methylphenidate was administered in an attempt to reduce the amount of baseline activity. Results were substantially similar to those of Experiment I, with hyperactive children more active than controls in baseline and insensitive to the schedule. There was no overall effect of drug administration on the behavior of either group. There were some ratedependent effects of both drug and schedule conditions.     

The rule learning behavior of reading disabled and normal children as a function of task characteristics and instruction

The purpose of this research was to investigate rule learning in reading disabled (RD) and normal children (chronological age and reading age (RA) match) when required to (a) abstract rules independently, and (b) use rules after instruction. Study 1 required the children to solve problems using shapes and letters. Although there was no difference between groups in the rate of problem solving when children were asked to abstract rules independently, the pattern of errors was different. The RD children made a greater proportion of errors on the negative instance for the more complex problems. In particular, this occurred on the letter task which involved psycholinguistic categorization. After instruction, the RA controls made more errors than the other groups. Study 2 was an analogous pseudoword reading task. Even with statistical adjustment for differences in prior grapheme-phoneme (g-p) rule knowledge, the RD children performed less accurately than the RA controls when they had to abstract rules, although this was restricted to the most difficult rule (rule of e). There was no difference after instruction in rule application, although the pattern of errors and post-test results indicated that the RD children continued to experience decoding difficulty. These results suggest a phonologically based productive deficit which interferes with the learning of g-p rules. This may be part of a more general language deficit which includes psycholinguistic categorization. Despite the severity of this handicap, RD children seem responsive to instruction.     

Evidence for language recoding in autistic, retarded and normal children: a re-examination

In a replication and extension of earlier studies by Hermelin & O'Connor, language recoding abilities in autistic, retarded and normal children matched for mental age and digit span, were compared in a verbal recall task. Random word lists, sentences, and anomalous sentences, eight or 12 items in length (for high and low memory span subgroups) were presented and the number of words recalled from each type of input was scored. All low span children recalled sentences better than random lists with normal children superior to retarded and autistic children and the latter group poorer than the retarded group. Autistic children showed a recency effect with both types of input. There were no group differences amongst high span children and sentences were again better recalled than random lists. In Expt II sentences were better recalled than anomalous sentences, with autistic and retarded children equivalent in performance and poorer than normal children. Although low span autistic children were clearly deficient in recall of sentence material when compared with the two control groups, the effect of conditions showed that they were able to use structure to improve recall. Since high span autistic children did not perform differently from controls it is suggested that results from this kind of study may not be generalizable, and that claims for a specific coding deficit in autistic children need further substantiation.     

Functionalism and type-type identity theories

Conclusion Token-token identity theorists do not and need not deny that it may frequently be the same (kind of) brain state which on different occasions fills the functional rôle definitive of a given mental state. That is not at issue. What is at issue is whether functionally-oriented identity theorists should make two claims or three claims.The two claims they customarily make are, first, that each instance of a mental state is an instance of a brain state, and, secondly, that being in a mental state is having in one a state filling the relevant functional rôle. But to be in a mental state is to have that state in one. To be in pain is to have pain, to desire water is to have desire for water, and so on; just as to be poisoned is to have poison in you. (It is to have what is poison for you at the time, of course; and likewise for pain, desire and so on.)Our paper has been about a third sort of claim — relating particularly not to being in a mental state, nor to instances of that state, but to the mental state itself. We have argued that functionally-oriented identity theorists can and should make, in addition to the first two claims, the third type-type identity claim that mental states are brain states. Consequently a token brain state is a token of pain in a derivative sense. What makes it a token of pain is that it is a token of the type of brain state which realizes the pain-rôle for the organism at the time.     

Cognitive abilities and disabilities in infantile autism: A review

The literature on various aspects of learning and performance in autistic children is reviewed and interpreted as indicating very little that is specific to autism. Inadequate and inconsistent methodology precludes generalizations concerning the nature of the disorder. It is suggested that future research should be particularly concerned with controlling for developmental influences on performance, and with investigation of the higher functioning autistic children who are less governed by retardation factors. The current evidence is considered to support a hypothesis concerning abnormal hemisphere functioning in this group of children.     

Do Executive Function Deficits Differentiate Between Adolescents with ADHD and Oppositional Defiant/Conduct Disorder? A Neuropsychological Study Using the Six Elements Test and Hayling Sentence Completion Test

Two neuropsychological measures of executive functions—Six Elements Tests (SET) and Hayling Sentence Completion Test (HSCT)—were administered to 110 adolescents, aged 12–15 years. Participants comprised four groups: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) only (n = 35), ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder (ODD/CD) (n = 38), ODD/CD only (n = 11), and a normal community control group (n = 26). Results indicated that adolescents with ADHD performed significantly worse on both the SET and HSCT than those without ADHD, whether or not they also had ODD/CD. The adolescents with ADHD and with comorbid ADHD and ODD/CD were significantly more impaired in their ability to generate strategies and to monitor their ongoing behavior compared with age-matched controls and adolescents with ODD/CD only. It is argued that among adolescents with clinically significant levels of externalizing behavior problems, executive function deficits are specific to those with ADHD. The findings support the sensitivity of these two relatively new tests of executive functions and their ecological validity in tapping into everyday situations, which are potentially problematic for individuals with ADHD.     

Development of object permanence in food-storing magpies (Pica pica)

The development of object permanence was investigated in black-billed magpies (Pica pica), a food-storing passerine bird. The authors tested the hypothesis that food-storing development should be correlated with object-permanence development and that specific stages of object permanence should be achieved before magpies become independent. As predicted, Piagetian Stages 4 and 5 were reached before independence was achieved, and the ability to represent a fully hidden object (Piagetian Stage 4) emerged by the age when magpies begin to retrieve food. Contrary to psittacine birds and humans, but as in dogs and cats, no "A-not-B error" occurred. Although magpies also mastered 5 of 6 invisible displacement tasks, evidence of Piagetian Stage 6 competence was ambiguous.