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The DiViSA’s Predictive Validity by Age: An Objective Online Test of Attention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2015

J. Santacreu  and
M. A. Quiroga
J. Santacreu*
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
M. A. Quiroga
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. J. Santacreu. Dpto. Psicología Biológica y de la Salud. Facultad de Psicología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Calle Pavlov, 6. 28049. Madrid (Spain). Fax: +34–914975184. E-mail: jose.santacreu@uam.es
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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the DiViSA’s predictive validity in school-age children. To do so, two groups of school-age children were compared: one with low school achievement (N = 1,174), and one with typical development (N = 1,426). The obtained results show that: (1) in all grades, children with poor school performance exhibited lower levels of attention and task organization, greater hastiness, and made more commission errors; (2) the combination of variables that best differentiated between groups was not the same in all grades; (3) level of organization improved with age in the low-school-achievement group, and did not in the typical-development group; (4) the data regarding sensitivity (81% to 93%) and specificity (79% to 90%), for the first time computed for each grade separately, support the test’s predictive validity in the grades we evaluated. The discussion focuses on the DiViSA test’s usefulness in diagnosing attention problems. It is the first computerized test to include separate scores for: (a) how children complete the task (organization) and (2) the source of their errors (distraction or hastiness).

Keywords

attention testADHDdistractionhastinessorganization
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 18 , 2015 , E98
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2015 

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