Visual scanning patterns were investigated in 32 children (mean age 9.8 years) referred for hyperactivity in a double blind crossover comparison of methylphenidate and placebo treatments. Results suggested that the stimulant drug may increase attentional selectivity even when such a shift fails to produce improvement in task performance. (Author)

Multivariate analyses, followed by univariate tests, indicated that the normal children increased in sustained attention efficiency with age to both visual and auditory stimuli. Hyperactive children (9-14 years old) increased in sustained attention efficiency with age to auditory but not visual stimuli. (Author)

To test the suggestion that a deficit in selective attention is characteristic of learning disabled (LD) but not hyperactive (H) children, 72 students (12 LDH, 12 H, and 36 normal Ss) were timed on visual search tasks. (Author)

Fifty hyperactive and learning disabled children (8 to 12 years old) were selected for study because of severe handwriting difficulties. The children received methylphenidate (Ritalin) or placebo under double blind conditions. Twenty-six students (52 percent) showed improvement in overall handwriting following the administration of methylphenidate…

Reports the results of a high-speed search task administered to overactive and distractible (hyperactives), normoactive and distractible, and normoactive and attentive (controls) children. Instructions emphasized speed, accuracy, or both speed and accuracy. Indicates that controls and distractibles conformed to the fast guess model, which relates…

Three groups of elementary school children, rated on activity and distractibility, were given a visual search task with three levels of display load and tested twice in two conditions of stimulus visibility. Encoding deficit or data limitation did not account for the attentional performance of either hyperactive or somewhat hyperactive subjects.…

Investigated effect of methylphenidate (MPH) on ability of 26 children with Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity (ADDH) to learn both trained and untrained complex visual relationships. Compared findings to their school performance under identical dosage. MPH enhanced children's learning of taught and untaught visual relationships;…

Experimenter presence (representing external control) or absence during task presentation were the two conditions under which attentional performance of 16 hyperactive and 16 control subjects (ages 7-12) was assessed. Results suggested noncompliance (an application deficit rather than an ability deficit) as a major contributor to poor performance…