Stimulus-Control Factors in Search Performance of Hyperactive Children

Abstract

Added stimulation, both biochemical and environmental, has been used to improve the sustained attention but less frequently the search-attention performance of hyperactive children. In the present study a search task was used that differed from sustained-attention tasks only in an additional requirement for visual scanning. The performance of hyperactive and control children on a noncolored version of this task was compared with a version to which color stimulation had been presented that reduced the area to be scanned or that required a wide area to be scanned in a mixed design counterbalanced for stimulation order and level of search. Findings were that hyperactive children omitted more signals than controls on most of the noncolored search task. In the color condition, only during the last third of performance did the hyperactive children crossover with a greater increase in errors than controls. This increase, however, was attributed to the narrow-focus search condition that reduced overall visual access to task and color stimuli, effectively making that color condition less stimulating. Conclusions were that performance on search-attentional tasks, like sustained attentional performance, is normalized for hyperactive children by added color, especially during early task performance; but that the performance gains produced by color wear off more rapidly for hyperactive children, especially when a narrow focus of attention is required.