CPT performance, motor activity, and continuousrelations to ADHD symptom domains:A developmental study

摘要

Using a population-based sample consisting of 401 6- to 12-year-olds, this studyexamined normative age and sex distributions on motor activity as measured inan actigraphic-based motion tracking system (MTS) and on attention-relatedfunctions derived from a Continuous Performance Test (CPT). Specificobjectives were to present new knowledge on age-related change in motoractivity and to study age effects on changes in motor activity and CPTperformance as a function of time on task. Further, continuous relations betweenthe two ADHD symptom domains and CPT performance and motor activity,and importantly, age effects in these relations were examined. CPT performanceimproved, and level of motor activity decreased with age. Linear associationsbetween the two ADHD symptom domains and several of the CPT and MTSparameters support available research describing the nature of ADHD as acontinuous dimension with variable expression throughout the generalpopulation. Further, our study is one of the first to provide developmentaldata using a time on task design, particularly with regard to motor activity.Imperative for ADHD future research are our results showing that age matters inthe relation between ADHD behaviours and neuropsychological function.