[ad_1]
Researchers at the University of Central Florida have found that people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) become more agitated when given demanding cognitive tasks. They came to this conclusion after sitting ADHD students in front of a screen playing the pod racing scene of Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which students watched with little body movement, and a math instructional video, which had students pivot in the chair, stomp their feet, and fidget.
From UCF:
This may not sound surprising. After all, weren’t the kids engrossed in the sci-fi movie and bored with the math lesson? Not if, [ Mark Rapport, director of the Children’s Learning Clinic at the University of Central Florida] noted.
“It’s just using the result to explain the cause,” he said. “We have shown that what really happens is that it depends on the cognitive demands of the task. With the action movie, there is no thinking involved – you just watch it, using your senses. You don’t have to hold anything in your brain and analyze it. With the math video, they use their working memory, and in this condition, the movement helps them to be more focused. “
The takeaway: Parents and teachers of children with ADHD should avoid calling them unmotivated slackers when working on tasks that require working memory and cognitive processing, the researchers said.
[via Digg]
[ad_2]
Source link