Park Yelin, Lee Jang-Han
Department of Psychology, College of Social Science, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea.
Front Psychol. 2021 Mar 10;12:614213. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.614213. eCollection 2021.
Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is a cluster of attentional symptoms characterized by slow information processing and behavior, distractibility, mental confusion, absent-mindedness, and hypoactivity. The present study aimed to compare early and late selective attention in the information processing speed of adults with SCT to those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and adults without any attentional problems. The participants were screened using Barkley Adult ADHD Rating Scale-IV and divided into the following groups: SCT ( = 24), ADHD ( = 24), and controls ( = 25). All participants completed the irrelevant distractor task measuring early and late selective attention under load condition (low vs. high) and distractor condition (no-distractor vs. distractor). The inefficiency index was calculated by subtracting the reaction time of no-distractor condition of correct trials from the reaction time of distractor condition to control the impact of accuracy. Upon analysis, the SCT group showed a lower efficiency compared to the ADHD group under high load, while the ADHD group showed lower efficiency under low load than high load. This meant that the ADHD group had increased efficiency of selective attention with higher load, while the SCT group had low efficiency of selective attention even under high loads. These results suggest that the symptoms of "slow" or "distracted" in SCT could be attributed to the reduced speed and efficiency of selective attention in early information processing and the problem can be pronounced in situations with distractors. The results of the study imply that the attention-deficit-like symptoms shown in those with SCT and ADHD can be distinguished in specific stage of information processing.
迟缓认知节奏（SCT）是一组注意力症状，其特征为信息处理和行为缓慢、易分心、思维混乱、心不在焉以及活动过少。本研究旨在比较患有SCT的成年人与患有注意力缺陷/多动障碍（ADHD）的成年人以及无任何注意力问题的成年人在信息处理速度方面的早期和晚期选择性注意力。使用巴克利成人ADHD评定量表第四版对参与者进行筛选，并将其分为以下几组：SCT组（n = 24）、ADHD组（n = 24）和对照组（n = 25）。所有参与者在负荷条件（低负荷与高负荷）和干扰条件（无干扰与有干扰）下完成测量早期和晚期选择性注意力的无关干扰任务。通过用有干扰条件下正确试验的反应时间减去无干扰条件下的反应时间来计算效率指数，以控制准确性的影响。经分析，在高负荷下，SCT组的效率低于ADHD组，而ADHD组在低负荷下的效率低于高负荷下的效率。这意味着ADHD组在较高负荷下选择性注意力效率提高，而SCT组即使在高负荷下选择性注意力效率也较低。这些结果表明，SCT中“缓慢”或“分心”的症状可能归因于早期信息处理中选择性注意力的速度和效率降低，并且在有干扰的情况下该问题会更加明显。该研究结果表明，SCT患者和ADHD患者表现出的类似注意力缺陷的症状在信息处理的特定阶段可以区分开来。
