Controlled observations on patterns of activity, attention, and impulsivity in brain-damaged and psychiatrically disturbed boys

SYNOPSIS Objective measurements taken from boys with and without a conduct disorder and with and without associated brain injury suggest that overactivity is a function of psychiatric disturbance rather than of an abnormality of the central nervous System. Very few of the children studied were consistently overactive or inattentive. Mothers' reports of overactivity tallied with a measure of conduct disturbance but not with objective measurements of activity or attention.