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Reaction time performance in ADHD: improvement under fast-incentive condition and familial effects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2007

PENNY ANDREOU ,
BEN M. NEALE ,
WAI CHEN ,
HANNA CHRISTIANSEN ,
ISABEL GABRIELS ,
ALEXANDER HEISE ,
SHEERA MEIDAD ,
UELI C. MULLER ,
HENRIK UEBEL  and
TOBIAS BANASCHEWSKI
...Show all authors
PENNY ANDREOU
Affiliation:
MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
BEN M. NEALE
Affiliation:
MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
WAI CHEN
Affiliation:
MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
HANNA CHRISTIANSEN
Affiliation:
Rheinische Kliniken Essen Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters, Essen, Germany
ISABEL GABRIELS
Affiliation:
UZ – Gent De Pintelaan, Gent, Oos-Vlaanderen, Belgium
ALEXANDER HEISE
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Georg-August-University, Goettingen, Germany
SHEERA MEIDAD
Affiliation:
ADHD Unit, Geha Mental Health Centre, Petach-Tikva, Israel
UELI C. MULLER
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Switzerland
HENRIK UEBEL
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Georg-August-University, Goettingen, Germany
TOBIAS BANASCHEWSKI
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Georg-August-University, Goettingen, Germany Central Institute of Mental Health, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Mannheim, Germany
IRIS MANOR
Affiliation:
ADHD Unit, Geha Mental Health Centre, Petach-Tikva, Israel
ROBERT OADES
Affiliation:
Rheinische Kliniken Essen Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters, Essen, Germany
HERBERT ROEYERS
Affiliation:
UZ – Gent De Pintelaan, Gent, Oos-Vlaanderen, Belgium
ARIBERT ROTHENBERGER
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Georg-August-University, Goettingen, Germany
PAK SHAM
Affiliation:
MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
HANS-CHRISTOPH STEINHAUSEN
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Switzerland
PHILIP ASHERSON
Affiliation:
MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
JONNA KUNTSI*
Affiliation:
MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: J. Kuntsi, Ph.D., MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park (Box P080), London SE5 8AF, UK. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

Reaction time (RT) variability is one of the strongest findings to emerge in cognitive-experimental research of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We set out to confirm the association between ADHD and slow and variable RTs and investigate the degree to which RT performance improves under fast event rate and incentives. Using a group familial correlation approach, we tested the hypothesis that there are shared familial effects on RT performance and ADHD.

Method

A total of 144 ADHD combined-type probands, 125 siblings of the ADHD probands and 60 control participants, ages 6–18, performed a four-choice RT task with baseline and fast-incentive conditions.

Results

ADHD was associated with slow and variable RTs, and with greater improvement in speed and RT variability from baseline to fast-incentive condition. RT performance showed shared familial influences with ADHD. Under the assumption that the familial effects represent genetic influences, the proportion of the phenotypic correlation due to shared familial influences was estimated as 60–70%.

Conclusions

The data are inconsistent with models that consider RT variability as reflecting a stable cognitive deficit in ADHD, but instead emphasize the extent to which energetic or motivational factors can have a greater effect on RT performance in ADHD. The findings support the role of RT variability as an endophenotype mediating the link between genes and ADHD.

Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 37 , Issue 12 , December 2007 , pp. 1703 - 1715
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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