Siklos Susan, Kerns Kimberly A
Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 3P5.
Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2004 Apr;19(3):347-61. doi: 10.1016/S0887-6177(03)00071-4.
The study was designed to investigate whether children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) demonstrate a deficit in multitasking, measured by their performance on a modified Six Elements Test designed for use with children (C-SET). The C-SET was administered to 38 children, aged 7-13. The subjects comprised two groups: an ADHD sample (n = 19) and a community control sample (n = 19). The results show that the ADHD group performed significantly worse on the C-SET, in that they attempted fewer tasks than the control group. However, they did not commit more rule breaks. These findings suggest that children with ADHD did not have problems with retrospective memory, as they were as able to remember the rules as the control group. Rather, the ADHD children appeared to have a specific deficit in monitoring their ongoing behaviors and generating useful strategies for task completion, as indicated by the decreased number of tasks attempted compared to the control group. The number of tasks tried on the C-SET correlated significantly with a measure of working memory, but not with a measure of response inhibition. C-SET total tasks tried also correlated with all subscales of the Conner's Parent Rating Scale-Revised (Short Version). The C-SET appears to be a useful measure of rule-governed multitasking behavior in children.
该研究旨在调查患有注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）的儿童在多任务处理方面是否存在缺陷，这通过他们在专为儿童设计的改良六元素测试（C-SET）中的表现来衡量。C-SET测试了38名7至13岁的儿童。受试者包括两组：ADHD样本（n = 19）和社区对照样本（n = 19）。结果表明，ADHD组在C-SET上的表现明显更差，因为他们尝试的任务比对照组少。然而，他们违反规则的情况并没有更多。这些发现表明，患有ADHD的儿童在回顾性记忆方面没有问题，因为他们与对照组一样能够记住规则。相反，ADHD儿童似乎在监控自己正在进行的行为以及为任务完成生成有用策略方面存在特定缺陷，这从与对照组相比尝试的任务数量减少可以看出。在C-SET上尝试的任务数量与工作记忆的一项测量指标显著相关，但与反应抑制的一项测量指标无关。C-SET尝试的总任务数也与康纳父母评定量表修订版（简版）的所有子量表相关。C-SET似乎是衡量儿童受规则支配的多任务行为的一项有用指标。
