Impact of time on task on ADHD patient’s performances in a virtual classroom
European Journal of Paediatric Neurology. 2012-09-01; 16(5): 514-521
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpn.2012.01.006
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1. Eur J Paediatr Neurol. 2012 Sep;16(5):514-21. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpn.2012.01.006.
Epub 2012 Jan 24.
Impact of time on task on ADHD patient’s performances in a virtual classroom.
Bioulac S(1), Lallemand S, Rizzo A, Philip P, Fabrigoule C, Bouvard MP.
Author information:
(1)Pôle Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l’Enfant et de l’Adolescent, Centre
Hospitalier Charles Perrens, Bordeaux, France.
BACKGROUND: Use of virtual reality tool is interesting for the evaluation of
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) patients. The virtual environment
offers the opportunity to administer controlled task like the typical
neuropsychological tools, but in an environment much more like standard
classroom. Previous studies showed that a virtual classroom was able to
distinguish performances of children with and without ADHD, but the evolution of
performances over time has not been explored. The aim of this work was to study
time on task effects on performances of ADHD children compared to controls in a
virtual classroom (VC).
METHODS: 36 boys aged from 7 to 10 years completed the virtual classroom task. We
compared the performance of the children diagnosed with ADHD with those of the
control children. We also compared attentional performances recorded in the
virtual classroom with measures of the Continuous Performance Test (CPT II).
RESULTS: Our results showed that patients differ from control subjects in term of
time effect on performances. If controls sustained performances over time in the
virtual reality task, ADHD patients showed a significant performance decrement
over time. Performances at the VC correlated with CPT II measures.
CONCLUSION: ADHD children are vulnerable to a time on task effect on performances
which could explain part of their difficulties. Virtual reality is a reliable
method to test ADHD children ability to sustain performances over time.
Copyright © 2012 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier
Ltd. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpn.2012.01.006
PMID: 22269913 [Indexed for MEDLINE]