THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL DISTRACTORS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF HYPERACTIVE CHILDREN ON AN ARITHMETIC TASK.
Item
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Title
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THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL DISTRACTORS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF HYPERACTIVE CHILDREN ON AN ARITHMETIC TASK.
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Identifier
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AAI8023675
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identifier
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8023675
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Creator
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RADOSH, ALICE.
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Contributor
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Rachel Gittelman
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Date
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1980
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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Previous studies of distractibility have, for the most part, found no difference between the task performance of hyperactive and non-hyperactive children. These studies did not distinguish between external stimuli that might be interesting to children and external stimuli that probably have very little interest for children. The present study determines empirically the appeal level of the external stimuli and hypothesizes a significant decrement in the task performance of hyperactive children in the presence of stimuli that are judged to be highly appealing.;The present study examines the effects of three levels of visual distractors on the performance of hyperactive children on an arithmetic task. Twenty hyperactive children between the ages of 7 and 10 years with full-scale intelligence quotients ranging from 91 to 121 on the revised Wechsler Intelligence Scale for children served as the experimental group.;Three hundred arithmetic problems were presented at a rapid rate in the window of a teaching machine. One third of the problems were bordered by interesting magazine pictures (High Appeal Condition); one third of the problems were bordered by abstract designs (Low Appeal Condition) and one third of the problems had blank borders (No Appeal Condition). The presentation of the three conditions was randomized.;The specific hypotheses tested are: (1) High Appeal distractors will disrupt the performance of hyperactive children on an arithmetic task. (2) Compared to the performance of non-hyperactive children, hyperactive children will not perform as well in the presence of High Appeal stimuli as in the presence of Low Appeal stimuli.;A two-way analysis of variance (groups x stimulus conditions) indicated significant differences for both main effects. The Newman-Keuls multiple comparison procedure indicated a significant difference between all appeal conditions for the hyperactive group and between the High vs. Low Appeal and the High vs. No Appeal conditions for the non-hyperactive group. An independent t test of difference scores indicated that the hyperactive children showed a significantly greater deterioration between the High Appeal stimulus condition and the No Appeal stimulus condition than did the non-hyperactive children. The first hypothesis, therefore, was confirmed.;Both groups made significantly more errors in the presence of High Appeal than Low Appeal stimuli. The extent of this deterioration was not greater for the Hyperactive than for the Non-Hyperactive group. The second hypothesis was not supported.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
