Stop signal and Conners' continuous performance tasks: test--retest reliability of two inhibition measures in ADHD children

J Atten Disord. 2009 Sep;13(2):137-43. doi: 10.1177/1087054708326110. Epub 2009 May 8.

Abstract

Objective: To measure test-retest reliability of the Stop-Signal Task (SST) and the Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CPT) in children with ADHD.

Methods: 12 children with ADHD (age 11.46 +/-1.66) participated in the study. Primary outcome measures were stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) for the SST and CPT's commission errors (%FP). For each participant, we acquired three morning (8:00am) measurements and behavioral observations, separated by two 7-day intervals. Reliability of cognitive measures and behavioral observations was measured using the Intraclass-correlation coefficient (ICC).

Results: ICC values for SSRT and %FP were 0.72. Consistency of behavioral observations was much lower (ICC =0.41).

Conclusion: Both the SST and the CPT yielded reliable measurements in ADHD children. Our findings lend further support to using these measures in the study of ADHD.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / classification
  • Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / diagnosis*
  • Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / psychology
  • Child
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Inhibition, Psychological*
  • Male
  • Neuropsychological Tests / statistics & numerical data*
  • Personality Assessment / statistics & numerical data
  • Psychometrics / statistics & numerical data
  • Psychomotor Performance*
  • Reaction Time
  • Reproducibility of Results