The hyperkinetic child: Effect of incentives on the speed of rapid tapping.

Studied 36 hyperkinetic and 36 control boys, ages 8-11, on a rapid-tapping task. Ss were divided into 3 incentive groups: 1 allowed to respond freely (U), 1 encouraged to tap rapidly (S), and 1 given pennies for increasing their tapping rate (R). As expected, the R and S groups tapped more rapidly than the U groups. When analyzed separately, no significant incentive group differences were found for hyperkinetics. The moderately fast tapping of the hyperkinetics, regardless of group, resulted in U hyperkinetics tapping more rapidly than U controls, but when incentive was introduced (S and R groups), controls were able to tap faster than the hyperkinetics. This inability of the hyperkinetics to adaptively adjust to the changing incentive conditions is suggested to be a function of defects in brain structures regulating arousal and concentration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)