Tapping and anticipation performance in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

The objective of this study was to examine the precise timing of a motor response in a sample of adolescents with ADHD and comparison participants. 46 participants with ADHD (M age = 15.6, SD = 1.4; 40 boys) and 44 control participants (M age = 15.3, SD = 1.4; 40 boys) were recruited through a metropolitan hospital. Participants were administered a tapping task and an anticipation task. Adolescents with ADHD displayed significantly more intra-individual variability on the visual 1000-msec. frequency interval of the tapping task and displayed lower accuracy on the cued and uncued trials of the anticipation task than comparison participants. Intra-individual variability on the tapping task was correlated with intra-individual variability on the anticipation task within both the ADHD and control groups. These findings suggest that adolescents with ADHD have impairments in both the cognitive representation and motor production of the precise timing of a motor response.