ON RESOURCE STRATEGY LIMITATIONS IN HYPERACTIVITY: COGNITIVE IMPULSIVITY RECONSIDERED

Abstract

Overactive and distractible (hyperactives), normoactive and distractible, and normoactive and attentive (controls) children were administered a high‐speed visual search task. The display load was manipulated and all subjects were administered the task in three instruction conditions: speed, ‘normal’ and accuracy. Speed‐accuracy trade‐off curves indicated that the controls and distractibles conformed to the fast guess model, which relates speed and accuracy. Hyperactives partially conformed to this model. It is concluded that a structural process deficit is not indicated by these data in hyperactivity. Rather, the evidence suggests that a resource strategy defect may be characteristic of hyperactivity. Copyright © 1985, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved