A Probabilistic Classification Procedure Based on Response Time Analysis Towards a Quick Pre-Diagnosis of Student’s Attention Deficit

M. Hernaiz-Guijarro, J. C. Castro-Palacio, E. Navarro-Pardo, J. M. Isidro and P. Fernández- de-Córdoba
Additional contact information
M. Hernaiz-Guijarro: Instituto Universitario de Matemática Pura y Aplicada, Grupo de Modelización Interdisciplinar, InterTech, Universitat Politècnica de València, E-46022 Valencia, Spain
J. C. Castro-Palacio: Institute of Nuclear Fusion, ETSII, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, c/José Gutiérrez Abascal, 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain
E. Navarro-Pardo: Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Grupo de Modelización Interdisciplinar, InterTech, Universitat de València, E-46010 Valencia, Spain
J. M. Isidro: Instituto Universitario de Matemática Pura y Aplicada, Grupo de Modelización Interdisciplinar, InterTech, Universitat Politècnica de València, E-46022 Valencia, Spain
P. Fernández- de-Córdoba: Instituto Universitario de Matemática Pura y Aplicada, Grupo de Modelización Interdisciplinar, InterTech, Universitat Politècnica de València, E-46022 Valencia, Spain

Mathematics, 2019, vol. 7, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: A classification methodology based on an experimental study is proposed towards a fast pre-diagnosis of attention deficit. Our sample consisted of school-aged children between 8 and 12 years from Valencia, Spain. The study was based on the response time (RT) to visual stimuli in computerized tasks. The process of answering consecutive questions usually follows an ex-Gaussian distribution of the RTs. Specifically, we seek to propose a simple automatic classification scheme of children based on the most recent evidence of the relationship between RTs and ADHD. Specifically, the prevalence percentage and reported evidence for RTs in relation to ADHD or to attention deficit symptoms were taken as reference in our study. We explain step by step how to go from the computer-based experiments and through the data analysis. Our desired aim is to provide a methodology to determine quickly those children who behave differently from the mean child in terms of response times and thus are potential candidates to be diagnosed for ADHD or any another cognitive disorder related to attention deficit. This is highly desirable as there is an urgent need for objective instruments to diagnose attention deficit symptomatology. Most of the methodologies available nowadays lead to an overdiagnosis of ADHD and are not based on direct measurement but on interviews of people related to the child such as parents or teachers. Although the ultimate diagnosis must be made by a psychologist, the selection provided by a methodology like ours could allow them to focus on assessing a smaller number of candidates which would help save time and other resources.

Keywords: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); reaction time; ex-Gaussian analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/7/5/473/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/7/5/473/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:7:y:2019:i:5:p:473-:d:234195

Access Statistics for this article

Mathematics is currently edited by Ms. Emma He

More articles in Mathematics from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().