Browsing by Author "Pearson, Deborah A."

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    ADHD severity as a predictor of cognitive task performance in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
    (Elsevier, 2021) Mansour, Rosleen; Ward, Anthony R.; Lane, David M.; Loveland, Katherine A.; Aman, Michael G.; Jerger, Susan; Schachar, Russell J.; Pearson, Deborah A.
    Background: In recent years, a number of studies have begun to explore the nature of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In this study, we examined the relationship between both symptoms of ADHD and symptoms of ASD on cognitive task performance in a sample of higher-functioning children and adolescents with ASD. Participants completed cognitive tasks tapping aspects of attention, impulsivity/inhibition, and immediate memory. Aims: We hypothesized that children with ASD who had higher levels of ADHD symptom severity would be at higher risk for poorer sustained attention and selective attention, greater impulsivity/disinhibition, and weaker memory. Methods and procedures: The sample included 92 children (73 males) diagnosed with ASD (Mean Age = 9.41 years; Mean Full Scale IQ = 84.2). Outcomes and results: Using regression analyses, more severe ADHD symptomatology was found to be significantly related to weaker performance on tasks measuring attention, immediate memory, and response inhibition. In contrast, increasing severity of ASD symptomatology was not associated with higher risk of poorer performance on any of the cognitive tasks assessed. Conclusions and implications: These results suggest that children with ASD who have more severe ADHD symptoms are at higher risk for impairments in tasks assessing attention, immediate memory, and response inhibition—similar to ADHD-related impairments seen in the general pediatric population. As such, clinicians should assess various aspects of cognition in pediatric patients with ASD in order to facilitate optimal interventional and educational planning.
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    The effect of arousal on a selective attention task
    (1982) Pearson, Deborah A.; Lane, David M.; Burnett, Sarah A.; Howell, William C.
    In two experiments, subjects performed a luminance detection task under conditions of low arousal and high arousal. In the low arousal condition, subjects heard 7 dB(A) broadband noise, and in the high arousal condition they heard 1 dB(A) noise. Stimuli were presented on a cathode ray tube, and appeared at the center and along the perimeter of an imaginary circle. Two expectancy conditions were used: a central expectancy condition, in which most of the stimuli appeared at the center of the screen and a few appeared along the perimeter, and a peripheral condition in which the opposite was true. Subjects responded faster to central stimuli than peripheral stimuli; they also responded faster to expected stimuli than unexpected stimuli. Noise had no effect on the way in which subjects processed location or expectancy information . It was concluded that arousal has no effect on the breadth of attention in this task.