The validity of vigilance tasks in differential diagnosis of children referred for attention and learning problems.

This study was conducted to evaluate the convergent and discriminant validity of vigilance measures of attention and impulsivity in children. One hundred children referred for evaluation of attention and learning problems were administered a battery of tests including two vigilance tasks, other laboratory measures of inattention and impulsivity, and parent and teacher ratings. It was predicted that vigilance task performance would correlate with teacher ratings and laboratory measures of inattention while correlations with ratings of aggressive behavior were predicted to be lower. Moderate correlations were obtained between the vigilance task scores and other laboratory measures of inattention and impulsivity. However, the vigilance scores did not correlate with teacher or parent ratings of behavior. A factor analysis, conducted to identify underlying dimensions of attention in the battery of tests, revealed strong source effects. The implications for use of vigilance measures in diagnosis are discussed.