Cargando…

Can Task-Switching Training Enhance Executive Control Functioning in Children with Attention Deficit/-Hyperactivity Disorder?

The key cognitive impairments of children with attention deficit/-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) include executive control functions such as inhibitory control, task-switching, and working memory (WM). In this training study we examined whether task-switching training leads to improvements in these f...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kray, Jutta, Karbach, Julia, Haenig, Susann, Freitag, Christine
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Research Foundation 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3250077/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22291628
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00180
_version_ 1782220440385617920
author Kray, Jutta
Karbach, Julia
Haenig, Susann
Freitag, Christine
author_facet Kray, Jutta
Karbach, Julia
Haenig, Susann
Freitag, Christine
author_sort Kray, Jutta
collection PubMed
description The key cognitive impairments of children with attention deficit/-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) include executive control functions such as inhibitory control, task-switching, and working memory (WM). In this training study we examined whether task-switching training leads to improvements in these functions. Twenty children with combined type ADHD and stable methylphenidate medication performed a single-task and a task-switching training in a crossover training design. The children were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group started with the single-task training and then performed the task-switching training and the other group vice versa. The effectiveness of the task-switching training was measured as performance improvements (relative to the single-task training) on a structurally similar but new switching task and on other executive control tasks measuring inhibitory control and verbal WM as well as on fluid intelligence (reasoning). The children in both groups showed improvements in task-switching, that is, a reduction of switching costs, but not in performing the single-tasks across four training sessions. Moreover, the task-switching training lead to selective enhancements in task-switching performance, that is, the reduction of task-switching costs was found to be larger after task-switching than after single-task training. Similar selective improvements were observed for inhibitory control and verbal WM, but not for reasoning. Results of this study suggest that task-switching training is an effective cognitive intervention that helps to enhance executive control functioning in children with ADHD.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3250077
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2012
publisher Frontiers Research Foundation
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-32500772012-01-30 Can Task-Switching Training Enhance Executive Control Functioning in Children with Attention Deficit/-Hyperactivity Disorder? Kray, Jutta Karbach, Julia Haenig, Susann Freitag, Christine Front Hum Neurosci Neuroscience The key cognitive impairments of children with attention deficit/-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) include executive control functions such as inhibitory control, task-switching, and working memory (WM). In this training study we examined whether task-switching training leads to improvements in these functions. Twenty children with combined type ADHD and stable methylphenidate medication performed a single-task and a task-switching training in a crossover training design. The children were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group started with the single-task training and then performed the task-switching training and the other group vice versa. The effectiveness of the task-switching training was measured as performance improvements (relative to the single-task training) on a structurally similar but new switching task and on other executive control tasks measuring inhibitory control and verbal WM as well as on fluid intelligence (reasoning). The children in both groups showed improvements in task-switching, that is, a reduction of switching costs, but not in performing the single-tasks across four training sessions. Moreover, the task-switching training lead to selective enhancements in task-switching performance, that is, the reduction of task-switching costs was found to be larger after task-switching than after single-task training. Similar selective improvements were observed for inhibitory control and verbal WM, but not for reasoning. Results of this study suggest that task-switching training is an effective cognitive intervention that helps to enhance executive control functioning in children with ADHD. Frontiers Research Foundation 2012-01-03 /pmc/articles/PMC3250077/ /pubmed/22291628 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00180 Text en Copyright © 2012 Kray, Karbach, Haenig and Freitag. http://www.frontiersin.org/licenseagreement This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Kray, Jutta
Karbach, Julia
Haenig, Susann
Freitag, Christine
Can Task-Switching Training Enhance Executive Control Functioning in Children with Attention Deficit/-Hyperactivity Disorder?
title Can Task-Switching Training Enhance Executive Control Functioning in Children with Attention Deficit/-Hyperactivity Disorder?
title_full Can Task-Switching Training Enhance Executive Control Functioning in Children with Attention Deficit/-Hyperactivity Disorder?
title_fullStr Can Task-Switching Training Enhance Executive Control Functioning in Children with Attention Deficit/-Hyperactivity Disorder?
title_full_unstemmed Can Task-Switching Training Enhance Executive Control Functioning in Children with Attention Deficit/-Hyperactivity Disorder?
title_short Can Task-Switching Training Enhance Executive Control Functioning in Children with Attention Deficit/-Hyperactivity Disorder?
title_sort can task-switching training enhance executive control functioning in children with attention deficit/-hyperactivity disorder?
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3250077/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22291628
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00180
work_keys_str_mv AT krayjutta cantaskswitchingtrainingenhanceexecutivecontrolfunctioninginchildrenwithattentiondeficithyperactivitydisorder
AT karbachjulia cantaskswitchingtrainingenhanceexecutivecontrolfunctioninginchildrenwithattentiondeficithyperactivitydisorder
AT haenigsusann cantaskswitchingtrainingenhanceexecutivecontrolfunctioninginchildrenwithattentiondeficithyperactivitydisorder
AT freitagchristine cantaskswitchingtrainingenhanceexecutivecontrolfunctioninginchildrenwithattentiondeficithyperactivitydisorder