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Text comprehension requires readers to mentally simulate the described situation by reactivating previously acquired sensory and motor information from (episodic) memory. Drawing upon research demonstrating gender differences, favouring girls, in tasks involving episodic memory retrieval, the present study explores whether gender differences exist in mental simulation in children (Grades 4 to 6). In Experiment 1, 99 children performed a sentence-picture verification task measuring mental simulation at sentence level. In Experiment 2, 97 children completed a lexical decision task in which imageability of words was manipulated to measure mental simulation at word level. Only for girls we found faster reaction times for matching versus mismatching sentence-picture pairs (Experiment 1) and high-imageability versus low-imageability words (Experiment 2). The results suggest that girls construct more coherent and vivid mental simulations than boys and rely more heavily on these representations. The results emphasize the importance of including gender into reading comprehension research. [Correction added on 13 June 2016, after first online publication: The affiliation of author "Björn B. de Koning" was previously wrong and has been corrected in this current version.]

Objective: The authors explored associations between ADHD symptoms, seasonal depressive symptoms, lifestyle, and health. Method: Adult ADHD patients ("n" = 202) and controls ("n" = 189) completed the ASESA questionnaire involving lifestyle, eating pattern, and physical and psychological health, and validated measures on ADHD and sleep. ASESA is the Dutch acronym for Inattention, Sleep, Eating pattern, Mood, and General health questionnaire. Results: Indication for delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) was 26% in patients and 2% in controls (p less than 0.001). Patients reported shorter sleep, longer sleep-onset latency, and later midsleep. Shorter ("R"[superscript 2] = 0.21) and later ("R"[superscript 2] = 0.27) sleep were associated with hyperactivity, male gender, younger age, and seasonal depressive symptoms. Seasonal depressive symptoms were related to hyperactivity, female gender, unemployment, and late sleep (pseudo "R"[superscript 2] = 0.28). Higher body mass index (BMI) was associated with shorter sleep in patients (rho = -0.16; "p" = 0.04) and controls (rho = -0.17; "p" = 0.02). Longer sleep showed lower odds for indication of metabolic syndrome (OR = -0.17; "p" = 0.053). Conclusion: DSPS is more prevalent in ADHD and needs further investigation to establish treatment to prevent chronic health issues. (Contains 5 tables.)

The Tower of London (TOL) is a widely used instrument for assessing planning ability. Inhibition and (spatial) working memory are assumed to contribute to performance on the TOL, but findings about the relationship between these cognitive processes are often inconsistent. Moreover, the influence of specific properties of TOL problems on cognitive processes and difficulty level is often not taken into account. Furthermore, it may be expected that several planning strategies can be distinguished that cannot be extracted from the total score. In this study, a factor analysis and a latent class regression analysis were performed to address these issues. The results showed that 4 strategy groups that differed with respect to preplanning time could be distinguished. The effect of problem properties also differed for the 4 groups. Additional analyses showed that the groups differed on average planning performance but that there were no significant differences between inhibition and spatial working memory performance. Finally, it seemed that multiple factors influence performance on the TOL, the most important ones being the score measurements, the problem properties, and strategy use. (Contains 7 tables, 1 figure and 1 footnote.)

Objective: To study the correlation between symptoms of ADHD in adults, obtained with different methods and from different sources. Method: Information was obtained from 120 adults with ADHD, their partners, and their parents, using the ADHD Rating Scale, the Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scales (CAARS), the Brown Attention-Deficit Disorder Scale (BADDS), and the structured interview Diagnostic Interview Schedule-IV, section L (DIS-L). Results: All self-report rating scales can be used to assess ADHD symptoms in clinical samples of adults. The BADDS and the ADHD Rating Scale proved best in predicting the clinical diagnosis. The "DSM-IV" factors, originally developed for children, achieve lower patient-informant agreement than the other factors. Conclusion: Adults with ADHD appear to be the best informants with regard to their symptoms but tend to underreport the severity of their symptoms. Informant report may be used to get additional information on symptoms and impairment. (Contains 6 tables and 2 figures.)

Text comprehension requires readers to mentally simulate the described situation by reactivating previously acquired sensory and motor information from (episodic) memory. Drawing upon research demonstrating gender differences, favouring girls, in tasks involving episodic memory retrieval, the present study explores whether gender differences exist in mental simulation in children (Grades 4 to 6). In Experiment 1, 99 children performed a sentence-picture verification task measuring mental simulation at sentence level. In Experiment 2, 97 children completed a lexical decision task in which imageability of words was manipulated to measure mental simulation at word level. Only for girls we found faster reaction times for matching versus mismatching sentence-picture pairs (Experiment 1) and high-imageability versus low-imageability words (Experiment 2). The results suggest that girls construct more coherent and vivid mental simulations than boys and rely more heavily on these representations. The results emphasize the importance of including gender into reading comprehension research. [Correction added on 13 June 2016, after first online publication: The affiliation of author 'Björn B. de Koning' was previously wrong and has been corrected in this current version.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is linked to impaired executive functioning (EF). This is the first study to objectively investigate the effects of a long-acting methylphenidate on neurocognitive test performance of adults with ADHD. Twenty-two adults with ADHD participated in a 6-weeks study examining the effect of osmotic-release oral system methylphenidate (OROS-mph) on continuous performance tests (CPTs; objective measures), and on the self-reported ADHD rating scale (subjective measure) using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over design. OROS-mph significantly improved reaction time variability (RTV), commission errors (CE) and d-prime (DP) as compared to baseline (Cohen's d>.50), but did not affect hit reaction time (HRT) or omission errors (OE). Compared to placebo, OROS-mph only significantly influenced RTV on one of two CPTs (p<.050). Linear regression analyses showed predictive ability of more beneficial OROS-mph effects in ADHD patients with higher EF severity (RTV: β=.670, t=2.097, p=.042; omission errors (OE): β=-.098, t=-4.759, p<.001), and with more severe ADHD symptoms (RTV: F=6.363, p=.019; HRT: F=3.914, p=.061). Side effects rates were substantially but non-significantly greater for OROS-mph compared to placebo (77% vs. 46%, p=.063). OROS-mph effects indicated RTV as the most sensitive parameter for measuring both neuropsychological and behavioral deficits in adults with ADHD. These findings suggest RTV as an endophenotypic parameter for ADHD symptomatology, and propose CPTs as an objective method for monitoring methylphenidate titration., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.)

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neuropsychiatric disorders with a worldwide prevalence around 4-5% in children and 1-4% in adults. Although ADHD is highly heritable and familial risk may contribute most strongly to the persistent form of the disorder, there are few studies on the genetics of ADHD in adults. In this paper, we present the first results of the International Multicentre Persistent ADHD Genetics CollaboraTion (IMpACT) that has been set up with the goal of performing research into the genetics of persistent ADHD. In this study, we carried out a combined analysis as well as a meta-analysis of the association of the SLC6A3/DAT1 gene with persistent ADHD in 1440 patients and 1769 controls from IMpACT and an earlier report. DAT1, encoding the dopamine transporter, is one of the most frequently studied genes in ADHD, though results have been inconsistent. A variable number tandem repeat polymorphism (VNTR) in the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of the gene and, more recently, a haplotype of this VNTR with another VNTR in intron 8 have been the target of most studies. Although the 10/10 genotype of the 3'-UTR VNTR and the 10-6 haplotype of the two VNTRs are thought to be risk factors for ADHD in children, we found the 9/9 genotype and the 9-6 haplotype associated with persistent ADHD. In conclusion, a differential association of DAT1 with ADHD in children and in adults might help explain the inconsistencies observed in earlier association studies. However, the data might also imply that DAT1 has a modulatory rather than causative role in ADHD.