Pollak, Yehuda PhD*; Weiss, Patricia L. PhD†; Rizzo, Albert A. PhD‡; Weizer, Merav MD*; Shriki, Liron BA*; Shalev, Ruth S. MD*; Gross-Tsur, Varda MD*
From the *Neuropediatric Unit, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem; †Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Haifa, Israel; and ‡Institute for Creative Technologies, School of Gerontology, University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Received March 2008; accepted August 2008.
Address for reprints: Yehuda Pollak, Ph.D., Neuropediatric Unit, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, POB 3235, Jerusalem 91031, Israel; e-mail:
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ABSTRACT:
Objective: Continuous performance tasks (CPT) are popular in the diagnostic process of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), providing an objective measure of attention for a disorder with otherwise subjective criteria. Aims of the study were to: (1) compare the performance of children with ADHD on a CPT embedded within a virtual reality classroom (VR-CPT) to the currently used Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA) CPT, and (2) assess how the VR environment is experienced.
Methods: Thirty-seven boys, 9 to 17 years, with (n = 20) and without ADHD (n = 17) underwent 3 CPT's: VR-CPT, the same CPT without VR (No VR-CPT) and the TOVA. Immediately following CPT, subjects described their subjective experiences on the Short Feedback Questionnaire. Results were analyzed using analysis of variance with repeated measures.
Results: Children with ADHD performed poorer on all CPT's. The VR-CPT showed similar effect sizes to the TOVA. Subjective feelings of enjoyment were most positive for VR-CPT.
Conclusion: The VR-CPT is a sensitive and user-friendly assessment tool to aid diagnosis in ADHD.
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© 2009 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.
