Abstract

ZULUAGA VALENCIA, Juan Bernardo  and  VASCO URIBE, Carlos Eduardo. Evolution of attention, cognitive styles and hyperactivity control in children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (addh). rev.latinoam.psicol. [online]. 2009, vol.41, n.3, pp.481-496. ISSN 0120-0534.

The aim of the present research was to study the impact of an intervention on attention using the Progresint method developed by Yuste et al. on the evolution of attention in its two modalities: Auditory Attention (AA) and Visual Attention (VA), on Cognitive Style towards field independence (CS), and on Hyperactivity Control (HC). The sample consisted of 34 children between 7 and 11 years of age, diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder combined with Hyperactivity (combined ADDH), registered at the Attentional Clinic program of Children's Hospital in Manizales, Colombia. They were divided into two groups, a Treatment Group of 17 children that received the attention treatment without Ritalin, and a Control Group that did not receive treatment. For pretest and postest assessment of relevant variables, the Continued Execution Test (cancellation of A's), Werry's Activity Scale, and CEFT -an adaptation of Witkin's Embedded Figures Test EFT for children- were used. Results support the stated hypotheses. In Student's t tests, differential effects within the Treatment Group were observed; they indicate a very probable attribution of a stronger-than-expected effect of the attention treatment to the Progresint method, especially remarkable because of the absence of Ritalin. These results also confirm Isabel Orjales' hypothesis with respect to the increment of Cognitive Style scores when using the same method. In subsequent correlational analyses, the only significant correlation found was between Auditory Attention (AA) and Cognitive Style (CS), result that was confirmed via ANOVA and MANOVA with high confidence levels. These high levels of confidence in the relationship between Auditory Attention (AA) and Cognitive Style (CS) may be considered as a first informative contribution to design new research and to interpret past results in order to refine future neuropsychological modeling of the different variables involved in the ADDH syndrome.

Keywords : attention; hyperactivity; Cognitive Style.

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