Abstract:

Introduction:
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder which entails several deficits in executive functioning and attention processes, typically emerging in early childhood and adolescence. Based on the negative impact of this disorder on academic performance, a growing body of contemporary researchers is directing attention towards the analysis of the relationship between parents’ perceptions regarding ADHD symptoms and scores from neurocognitive evaluations applied in children and adolescents, considering gender differences. This fact is especially relevant bearing in mind that parents could be significant informants about the symptomatology of children, and they could detect the initial signs or symptoms of this diagnosis. However, little is known about the possible correlations between parents’ perceptions and scores from serious games in the evaluation of attention processes.

Objective:
The purpose of this research was to identify the relationship between the parents’ report for the evaluation of ADHD symptoms in a sample of Spanish children and adolescents, and scores derived from the serious game Attention Robots®, considering gender differences.

Method:
In the present study participated 90 children and adolescents (57 boys and 33 girls) with a mean age of 11.23 years (SD=2.94). The evaluation protocol included the Attention Robots® for the evaluation of attentional processes and the ADHD Rating Scale IV (ADHD-RS-IV) for the evaluation of ADHD symptoms from parents’ reports, which included three dimensions (inattention, hyperactivity, and a combined subtype of inattention/hyperactivity). Pearson and partial correlations were employed for the assessment of the association between ADHD symptoms reported by parents and total hits and errors obtained by participants in the Attention Robots®.

Results:
Hyperactivity dimension of the ADHD-RS-IV significantly correlated with the scoring of total hits in Attention Robots® (r=-0.224, p=0.034). No significant correlations were found regarding this dimension of ADHD-RS-IV in the case of errors, both omissions (r=-0.041, p=0.699) and commissions (r=-0.177, p=0.095). No significant association were found in the case of the dimensions of inattention and the combined subtype of inattention/hyperactivity (p<.05). When partial correlation was conducted controlling for gender, the association between Hyperactivity dimension and hits remained significant (r=-0.242, p=0.023). Moreover, the relationship between the combined subtype of inattention/hyperactivity dimension and hits revealed significant (r=-0.203, p=0.049). No significant association was found between the inattention dimension and hits and between all the dimensions of ADHD-RS-IV and errors controlling for gender.

Conclusions:
These findings highlight that there is a significant relationship between parents’ perception regarding ADHD symptoms in children and scores obtained in the serious game for the neurocognitive evaluation Attention Robots®. In this regard, according to some previous studies, it seems that parents are more likely to identify hyperactivity symptoms than inattention symptoms of children, as it has been the unique dimensions that remained significant in both models of correlations, considering gender differences.

Keywords:

Attention Robots®, computer-based tool, serious game, neuropsychological assessment, ADHD, children, adolescents.