The neurocognitive nature of children with ADHD comorbid sluggish cognitive tempo: Might SCT be a disorder of vigilance?
Abstract
Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) refers to a clinical construct including several symptoms such as sluggishness, absentmindedness, low energy. In the present study, we compared neurocognitive laboratory outcomes of ADHD children with or without SCT.Method The CNS Vital Signs Battery was utilized to measure neurocognitive measure of the participants. The SCT+ADHD group comprised of 42 subjects, ADHD group was 41 subjects and control group was 24 subjects.Results The cognitive flexibility score was found to be more severely impaired in ADHD children with SCT in comparison to the ADHD-only. Additionally, greater deficits in the Shifting Attention Test (p = 0.014) and the Continuous Performance Test (reaction time score, p < 0.01) were found in the SCT+ADHD group relative to ADHD group. Processing speed, visual/auditory memory, psychomotor speed and reaction time were not found to more impaired in those comorbid with SCT.Conclusion Impairments in the cognitive flexibility and more specifically shifting attention and continuous performance may be indicative of vigilance and orientation problems rather than executive functions for the SCT construct.
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There is some evidence that individuals with elevated CDS symptoms make more omission errors on sustained attention tasks, though not all studies support this association.
“There is some evidence that individuals exhibiting elevated CDS symptoms make more omission errors on sustained attention tasks [2, 10, 14, 39, 44], though again, not all studies have found support for this association [29].”
People with cognitive disengagement syndrome may be prone to errors in signal detection.
“individuals with CDS may have a propensity toward signal detection errors [2, 10, 14, 39, 44]”
Bupropion may address CDS-related signal detection deficits by reducing omission errors.
“This includes potentially addressing CDS-related deficits in signal detection by reducing errors of omission [2, 10, 14, 39, 44, 71]”
Earlier research has linked CDS to poorer Go/NoGo accuracy and more omissions among children with ADHD and among typically developing children selected for high ADHD and CDS symptoms.
“This was somewhat surprising given work reporting an association of CDS with lower GNG accuracy [60] and more omissions in samples of children with ADHD [4,61] and typically developing children oversampled for ADHD and CDS symptoms [5].”
From Neurocognition in children with cognitive disengagement syndrome: accurate but slow (2024) · cites this paper as [5]
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 [5]
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 [5]
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- Authors
- Baytunca, M. B., Inci, S. B., Ipci, M., Kardas, B., Bolat, G. U., & Ercan, E. S.
- Affiliations
- Ege University (TR)
- Corresponding author
- Baytunca, Muharrem Burak
- Venue
- Psychiatry Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-12
- Volume
- 270
- Pages
- 967-973
- ISSN
- 0165-1781 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2793255303
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 4
- FWCI
- 4.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychiatry Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Kocaeli Üniversitesi - AVESİS (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- sluggish cognitive tempo, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, comorbidities, cognitive flexibility, attentional shift, sustained attention, continuous performance, reaction time, executive function, children
- MeSH terms
- Mental Status and Dementia Tests, Arousal, Attention, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Child, Cognition, Cognition Disorders, Female, Humans, Male, Reaction Time, Comorbidity, Case-Control Studies, Executive Function
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