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A Pursuit of Better Testing to Sort Out the Complexities of ADHD


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Artist's representation of computational psychiatry.

Ohio State University researchers suggest the use of computer simulation to identify symptoms in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder could provide an additional tool to gauge the presence and severity of such behavioral problems.

Credit: Getty Images

Computer simulation could  help identify symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, according to Ohio State University (OSU) researchers.

The OSU team reviewed 50 studies of cognitive tests for ADHD, and characterized how three common computational models could supplement these analyses.

Children with ADHD take longer to make decisions while performing tasks than children without ADHD, and tests typically measure this difference using average response times.

OSU's Nadja Ging-Jehli said, "We are proposing using the entire distribution of the reaction times, taking into consideration the slowest and the fastest reaction times to distinguish between different types of ADHD."

The study also cited a complication in future ADHD research: a broader range of externally evident symptoms and subtle traits that most common testing methods may overlook.

From Ohio State News
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