Sluggish Cognitive Tempo

This exploratory study is the first to investigate whether the construct of sluggish-cognitive tempo (SCT) is related to slowed processing speed in children with traumatic brain injury (TBI), while also considering pre-morbid and injury variables. The study evaluated SCT, as measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and processing speed, as assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV Processing Speed Index), in children who sustained TBI with a wide range of injury severity...

OBJECTIVE: Sluggish cognitive tempo refers to a constellation of symptoms that include slowed behavior/thinking, reduced alertness, and getting lost in one's thoughts. Despite the moniker "sluggish cognitive tempo," the evidence is mixed regarding the extent to which it is associated globally with slowed (sluggish) mental (cognitive) information processing speed (tempo). METHOD: A well-characterized clinical sample of 132 children ages 8-13 years (M = 10.34, SD = 1...

BACKGROUND: Research has started conceptualizing sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) within the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), but no study has tested SCT symptomatology in relation to the positive valence systems. METHODS: Participants (N = 4,679; 18-29 years; M = 19.08, SD = 1.36; 69% female; 80.9% White) enrolled in six universities in the United States completed self-reported measures of positive valence systems, SCT, and psychopathology dimensions. RESULTS: SCT symptoms were uniquely associated with greater reward valuation and expectancy of reward, but less willingness to work for reward...

BACKGROUND: Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is a construct that includes symptoms of slowness, excessive daydreaming, and drowsiness. SCT is often comorbid with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and SCT symptoms are associated with significant academic impairment above the influence of ADHD. Despite the overlap between ADHD and SCT and associated impairments, no studies have evaluated how evidence-based psychosocial interventions for adolescents with ADHD impact symptoms of SCT...

A nationally representative sample of U.S. children was used to determine the empirical and clinical differentiation of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms using both categorical and dimensional approaches. Mothers of children ( N = 2,056, M ±  SD age  = 8.49 ± 2.15 years, 49.3% girls) completed measures of SCT, ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), anxiety, depression, sleep difficulties, daily life executive functioning, conflicted shyness, friendship difficulties, and social and academic impairment...

Previous studies have demonstrated that sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) behaviors are empirically distinct from inattentive (IN) behaviors that are used to define attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. However, most studies used cross-sectional designs during middle childhood. Using parent and teacher ratings from the Family Life Project ( N = 1,173), we investigated the factor structure, longitudinal measurement invariance, developmental trajectories, and predictors of developmental change in SCT and IN from age 3 years through Grade 5...

Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) appears to be distinct from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and unique patterns of association between SCT and comorbid symptoms have been reported in the literature. The current study examined the relation between environmental supports and comorbid concerns among children with high SCT. Parents of children (ages 6-12) with a diagnosis of ADHD and clinically elevated SCT (N = 126) completed measures of emotional/behavioral functioning, child routines, and parental adjustment...

OBJECTIVE: Sleep problems is the most common side effect of methylphenidate (MPH) treatment in ADHD youth and carry potential to negatively impact long-term self-regulatory functioning. This study aimed to examine whether applying machine learning approaches to pre-treatment demographic, clinical questionnaire, environmental, neuropsychological, genetic, and neuroimaging features can predict sleep side effects following MPH administration. METHOD: The present study included 83 ADHD subjects as a training dataset...

This study was the first to examine the relationship between neurophysiological abnormalities and symptoms of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) in children. Thirty children aged 6-12 years were recruited. Their heart rate variability (HRV) was measured under resting and warning signal conditions. At rest, the children's SCT symptoms were found to be positively associated with their HRV (indicated by the standard deviation of the Poincaré plot along the line of identity in normalized units, SD2 nu). SCT symptoms were also positively associated with a change in SD2 nu between the resting and warning signal conditions...

The association between slow processing speed and sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT), a phenotype described within attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) samples over the past decade, remains unclear. We examined whether SCT and processing speed predict different functional correlates within children and adolescents with ADHD. Participants were 193 clinically-referred youth meeting DSM ADHD criteria without comorbid conditions (mean age = 9.9 years, SD = 2.5; age range 6-16). The incremental utility of SCT and processing speed to predict (1) adaptive functioning and (2) academic achievement, after controlling for age, sex, medication status, and ADHD symptom burden, was assessed using hierarchical multiple regressions...

Few studies have examined the longitudinal association between sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) symptoms and internalizing symptoms, and no study has examined the potentially bidirectional associations between SCT and internalizing symptoms. The present study used a short-term longitudinal design to examine the directionality of the associations between SCT, depressive, and anxious symptoms in children. Teachers of 188 children in 1st to 6th grades (6-13 years of age; 47% boys) provided ratings of children's SCT, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in the fall school semester (T1) and again 6 months later (T2)...

We evaluated sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) symptoms in relation to personality as assessed via both the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (BIS/BAS) and Five Factor (Big 5) Model of personality. 3,172 students from five universities completed psychopathology, BIS/BAS, and Big 5 measures. Correlations and path models with SCT, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) dimensions, and anxiety/depression in relation to personality were examined. SCT evidenced a different pattern of relations to adult personality than ADHD and anxiety/depression...

Individual variation in coping with environmental challenges is a well-known phenomenon across vertebrates, including teleost fish. Dopamine is the major transmitter in the brain reward networks, and important for motivational processes and stress coping. Functions of the endogenous opioid system are not well studied in teleosts. However, in mammals the activity in the brain reward networks is regulated by the endogenous opioid system. This study aimed at investigating if there was a correlation between risk-taking behavior and the expression of dopamine and opioid receptors in the zebrafish (Danio rerio) brain...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a heterogeneous disorder encompassing a wide array of clinical presentations, levels of impairment, etiologies, and neurobiological correlates. Despite this well-known heterogeneity, most research into the pathophysiology of ADHD has relied on comparisons between typically developing youth and those with the disorder (or perhaps further stratifying by DSM-defined ADHD subtypes). Although informative, this approach assumes a level of pathophysiologic homogeneity that belies the large and growing body of literature underscoring diverse neurobiological and neuropsychological profiles subsumed under the umbrella of this complex syndrome...

OBJECTIVE: Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is a cluster of symptoms associated with poor function in various domains of major life activities that may comprise a novel attention disorder distinct from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Nevertheless, very little is known about the neural substrate of SCT in children. The present study aimed to examine associations between SCT symptoms and brain structure and function in school-aged children. METHOD: We performed a cross-sectional MRI study in 178 children 8 to 12 years old from primary schools in Barcelona, Spain...

OBJECTIVE: Although poor sleep is often reported in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), prior studies have been correlational. This study investigated whether sleep duration is causally linked to sleepiness, inattention, and behavioral functioning in adolescents with ADHD. METHOD: A total of 72 adolescents (aged 14-17 years) entered a 3-week sleep protocol using an experimental crossover design. The protocol included a phase stabilization week, followed in randomized counterbalanced order by 1 week of sleep restriction (6...

Emerging research has identified sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) as a construct separate from ADHD predominately inattentive presentation. The present study explores the longitudinal stability of SCT over a period of 7 years, specifically the independent effects of SCT on behavioural and academic outcomes concurrently over a 3-year period. A sample of 639 twins, aged 6-12 years, participating in the Western Reserve Reading and Math Project (WRRMP) were assessed at seven annual home visits. The WRRMP sample is an unselected sample of twins representative of the general population of typically developing school-age children...

This study examines how ADHD-related symptoms and impairments interact to predict depression symptoms in young adolescents with ADHD. A sample of 342 adolescents (71% male, mean age = 13 years old) with DSM-IV-TR diagnosed ADHD completed baseline clinical assessments upon entry to a psychosocial treatment study for ADHD. Ratings of ADHD and sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) symptoms, and social and academic impairment were obtained from parents, while ratings of depressive symptoms and conflict with parents were obtained from youth...

The current review summarizes the research to date on social functioning for youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with a focus on three key domains: peer rejection, friendship, and social information processing. The review extends past reviews by examining the research to date on how the presence of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) symptoms, a common correlate of ADHD, affects the social presentation of youth with ADHD. Overall, youth with ADHD show significant difficulty with peer rejection, forming and maintaining friendships, and abnormalities in how they process and respond to social information...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by inattention, aberrant impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Although the underlying pathophysiology of ADHD remains unclear, dopamine and norepinephrine signaling originating from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and locus coeruleus (LC) is thought to be critically involved. In this study, we employ Designer Receptor Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs) together with the mouse 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task (5-CSRTT) to investigate the necessary roles of these catecholamines in ADHD-related behaviors, including attention, impulsivity, and motivation...