A randomized controlled trial investigation of a non-stimulant in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ACTION): Rationale and design

Table 1 Six cognitive and emotional function markers, and their contributing measures

Marker	Summary definition	Task	Measure
Cognitive:
1. Sustained attention (vigilance)	To maintain attention over time during continuous and repetitive activities.	Continuous performance task	Reaction time, total errors
2. Impulsivity	To initiate a behavior without adequate forethought; the inability to suppress automatic responses when they are inappropriate.	Continuous performance task Go-NoGo	Errors of commission Errors of commission
3. Intrusions	The repetition of erroneous responses, even in the absence of interfering stimuli.	Maze Switching of attention Verbal memory recall	Overrun errors Errors (digits and letters) Total intrusion errors
4. Inhibition	The inability to suppress task-irrelevant information.	Verbal interference	Errors (word), errors (color), errors (interference)
5. Response variability	The consistency of response time.	Continuous performance task Go-NoGo	Variability of reaction time Variability of reaction time
Emotional function:
6. Emotion identification	The capacity to identify the facial expressions of basic emotion displayed by others.	Emotion identification task	Percentage correct, response time for each expression (fear, anger, sadness, happiness, disgust, neutral)

ISSN: 1745-6215