The Effect of Physical Effort in the Decision Making Process of Preadolescents With ADHD

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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In the current study we will examine a specific aspect of these processes that has yet to be studied. We will test the effect that a physically effortful assignment has on the choices that a preadolescent makes using a forced choice paradigm in which the participant will be asked to choose between and carry out either a high cost-high reward option (HR) or a low cost-low reward (LR) option. The HR option will demand a significant amount of physical effort and will be paired up with a large reward as opposed to the LR option which will be less demanding physically and paired up with a small reward. The assignment will be carried out using a hand held dynamometer which measures the power produced by the participants' upper extremity. We propose that a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) will choose a task that involves less effort despite the small reward tied to it compared to a control child who will choose the more demanding task and the larger reward.

Detailed Description
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In the current study we will examine a specific aspect of these processes that has yet to be studied. We will test the effect that a physically effortful assignment has on the choices that a preadolescent makes using a forced choice paradigm in which the participant will be asked to choose between and carry out either a high cost-high reward option (HR) or a low cost-low reward (LR) option. The HR option will demand a significant amount of physical effort and will be paired up with a large reward as opposed to the LR option which will be less demanding physically and paired up with a small reward. The assignment will be carried out using a hand held dynamometer which measures the power produced by the participants' upper extremity. We propose that a child with ADHD will choose a task that involves less effort despite the small reward tied to it compared to a control child who will choose the more demanding task and the larger reward.

Official Title
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The Effect of Physical Effort in the Decision Making Process of Preadolescents With ADHD

Conditions
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ADHD

Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: clinical diagnosis of ADHD Exclusion Criteria: any other neurological or psychiatric diagnosis

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 11 Years
Maximum Age: 13 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Preadolescents with ADHD<br>preadolescents with prior diagnosis of ADHD and without any other psychiatric or neurological diagnosis. | |
| Preadolescents with out any diagnosis<br>Preadolescents with out any diagnosis | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The number of low effort choices of the ADHD participants compared to the number of low effort choices of the control participants |  | immediately after testing |