Psychology Commons^™

Hyperactivity In Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd): Testing Functional Relationships With Phonological Working Memory Performance And Attention, Dustin Sarver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Excessive gross motor activity is currently considered a ubiquitous and disruptive feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, an alternative model challenges this premise and hypothesizes a functional relationship between activity level, attention, and working memory. The current study investigated whether, and the extent to which, particular forms of gross motor activity are functionally related to children’s attention and phonological working memory performance. Objective observations of children’s gross motor movements and attention by independent observers were conducted while children with ADHD (n = 29) and typically developing children (n = 23) completed multiple counterbalanced tasks entailing low and high phonological working …