Vigilance deficit in learning disabled children: a signal detection analysis.

Abstract

SUMMARYTo test the proposition that learning disabled children manifest a sustained deficit within a detection theory analysis, the Continuous Performance Test (cf, Sykes, Douglas and Morgenstern, 1973) was administered lo normal and learning disabled boys. Children were tested on two task lengths (4:45 and 9:50 minutes) and two modalities (auditory and visual) in which dependent measures were correct detections and false responses, d' and B values As expected, learning disabled children made significantly fewer correct detections and ware false responses and were less sensitive (d') to critical stimuli than normal children There was no strong evidence to indicate disabled and Normal children differ on response criterion (B). B decreased significantly with time on cask for both groups, whereas d' remained relatively unchanged. Results were interpreted as supporting the notion that learning disabled children suffer a reduction in processing capacity rather than a loss of sustained attention over time.