The participants’movements were measured by affixing a device for their ankles that measured their degree of activity while completing a “flanker test” that will require good attention and the capacity to inhibit paying attention to distractions.
“As it happens that physical movement during cognitive tasks of fidget cube may be a good thing for them,” said Julie Schweitzer, professor of psychiatry, director of the UC Davis ADHD Program and study senior author.
The study of pre-teens and teenagers with ADHD examined how movement — its intensity and frequency — correlated with accuracy on cognitively demanding tasks requiring good attention. It found that participants who moved more intensely exhibited substantially better cognitive performance.
The accuracy of the participants with ADHD was significantly improved when these were moving, the research found. Quite simply, correct answers were associated with more motion than incorrect answers.
The study, “A trial-by-trial analysis reveals more intense physical activity is associated with better cognitive control performance in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder,” is published online today in Child Neuropsychology. It is the first ever to assess the partnership between activity and task performance on a trial-by-trial basis in ADHD, the authors said.
For the research, the authors recruited 26 children with validated ADHD diagnoses and 18 have been developing typically and served as controls. The research was conducted at the MIND Institute in Sacramento, Calif. The participants were between the ages of 10 years and 17 years when the research was conducted.
“Maybe teachers shouldn’t punish kids for movement, and should allow them to fidget as long as it doesn’t disturb the remaining portion of the class,” said Arthur Hartanto, a study coordinator with the ADHD Program and the lead author. “Instead, they should seek activities which are not disruptive that enable their students with ADHD to use movement, because it assists them with thinking.”
Other authors are C.E. Krafft and I.M. Iosif of UC Davis. The study was funded by National Institute of Mental Health grant 1R01MH091068; the Children’s Miracle Network; a UC Davis MIND Institute Pilot Grant; and a MIND Institute Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center grant U54 HD079125.
“This finding suggests that accuracy in ADHD may be enhanced by more intense activity or that when a kid with ADHD is using more cognitive resources they’re more likely to be engaging in physical activity,” the research says.
“Parents and teachers shouldn’t try to help keep them still. Let them move while they’re doing their work or other challenging cognitive tasks,” Schweitzer said. “It could be that the hyperactivity we see in ADHD may actually be beneficial at times. Perhaps the movement increases their arousal level, which leads to higher attention.”
The constant movement of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be distracting — but the fidget cube also may enhance their cognitive performance, a study by researchers with the UC Davis MIND Institute has found. The take-away message: The hyperactivity seen in ADHD may help children think.
In the test, the little one is asked to target on the direction by which the center arrow in some arrows is pointing, inhibiting their attendance at other arrows flanking the arrow in question. On some of the trials the center arrow is pointing in the exact same direction because the flankers; in others it is pointing in the opposite direction. Arrows pointing in the opposite direction cause more errors in performance.