Preschool neuropsychological predictors of school-aged sluggish cognitive tempo and inattentive behaviors
Open accessAbstract
Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is characterized by excessive daydreaming, slowed thinking, and mental confusion and ‘fogginess’. A growing body of research supports the empirical differentiation of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) from the inattentive (IN) behaviors that characterize attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Further SCT and IN are uniquely associated with clinical correlates across academic, social, and emotional domains; however, there is limited understanding of how neuropsychological functioning contributes to SCT and/or IN behaviors. The two broad domains of neuropsychological functioning that have been most frequently examined in relation to SCT behaviors are processing speed and executive functions (EF). The present study tested whether EF and processing speed measured when children were on average age five years were predictive of teacher-rated IN and SCT behaviors in 1st – 3rd grades. Participants included 1,022 children from the Family Life Project, an ongoing prospective longitudinal study of child development in low-income, non-metropolitan communities. EF and processing speed uniquely made independent contributions to the prediction of IN and SCT. In secondary analyses that focused on specific facets of EF and processing speed, inhibitory control and working memory abilities predicted lower IN but not SCT behaviors, whereas slower processing speed significantly predicted both greater SCT and IN behaviors. These results are discussed as they inform developmental models of SCT and IN.
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Studies in early childhood generally showed weak associations between CDS and slowed processing speed, while studies of older children and adults had mixed findings.
“Other evidence to support a link between CDS and a slowed processing speed comes from studies in early childhood [30, 31, 33] that generally showed weak associations, whereas studies of older children and adults have had mixed findings [10, 13, 14, 29, 32-40].”
These null results for CDS with planning, cognitive interference accuracy, and response inhibition match prior child studies that found no CDS link to planning tasks, Stroop accuracy, or response inhibition.
“These findings are consistent with previous work in children which reported no association of CDS and planning tasks (Tower of Hanoi [19] and CANTAB Stockings Task [9]), Stroop accuracy [19], or response inhibition [5,8,61].”
From Neurocognition in children with cognitive disengagement syndrome: accurate but slow (2024) · cites this paper as [8]
Of the three remaining studies on CDS and Go/NoGo omissions in children and adolescents, results were mixed: two found CDS linked to more Gordan Diagnostic System Go/NoGo omission errors, and one found no link to Test of Variables of Attention omissions.
“The three remaining studies which reported on CDS and GNG omissions in children and teens reported mixed findings; two reported CDS was associated with more Gordan Diagnostic System GNG omission errors [4,5] and one reported no association between CDS and Test of Variables of Attention omissions [8].”
From Neurocognition in children with cognitive disengagement syndrome: accurate but slow (2024) · cites this paper as [8]
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References 60 · Cited by 13
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: Fouth Edition (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
- Becker SP, & Barkley RA (2018). Sluggish cognitive tempo In Banaschewski T, Coghill D, & Zuddas A (Eds.), Oxford textbook of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (pp. 147– 153). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
- Dunn LM, & Dunn DM (2007). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test Fourth Edition (PPVT-IV). Bloomington, MN: Pearson.
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- Authors
- Becker, S. P., Dvorsky, M. R., Tamm, L., & Willoughby, M. T.
- Affiliations
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (US)
- Children's National (US)
- RTI International (US)
- Corresponding author
- Becker, Stephen P.
- Willoughby, Michael T.
- Venue
- Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology
- Published
- 2020-12-28
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 197-210
- ISSN
- 0091-0627 (ISSN-L)
- 2730-7166
- 2730-7174
- PMC
- PMC7855990
- OpenAlex
- W3117025218
- Semantic Scholar
- 74089d28eb910a494bb7921e7ee84a171de8a819
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 1.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (UG3OD023332)
- National Institute of Mental Health (K23MH122839, K23MH108603)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P01HD039667)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- sluggish cognitive tempo, inattentive behavior, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, executive function, processing speed, inhibitory control, working memory, preschool children, teacher ratings, child development, low-income communities, Family Life Project
- MeSH terms
- Child, Child, Preschool, Cognition, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Prospective Studies, Schools, Executive Function
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