TY - JOUR
T1 - The dominance of behavioural activation over behavioural inhibition in conduct disordered boys with or without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
AU - Matthys, Walter
AU - Van Goozen, Stephanie H.M.
AU - De Vries, Han
AU - Cohen-Kettenis, Peggy T.
AU - Van Engeland, Herman
PY - 1998/8/3
Y1 - 1998/8/3
N2 - On the basis of Gray's theory, Quay suggested that conduct disorder (CD) is associated with a Behavioural Activation System (BAS) that dominates over the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS), whereas attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterised by an underactive BIS. Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that the dominance of the BAS over the BIS is more pronounced in CD comorbid with ADHD (CD/ADHD) than in CD alone. First of all, a response perseveration task was used, i.e. the door-opening task. In this game, the subject chooses either to open the next door or to stop playing; there is a steadily increasing ratio of punished responses to rewarded responses and a large number of doors opened is indicative of response perseveration. As expected, a steady increase in the number of doors opened was found across normal control (NC) boys, CD boys, and CD/ADHD boys (NC<CD<CD/ADHD). Second, the dominance of the BAS over the BIS was examined by observing the social behaviour of the child in interaction with a research assistant who alternately activated the BAS and the BIS while a game was played. The behaviour of the children was analysed according to ethological methods. Group differences in the frequencies of three out of five behavioural categories were in line with the results of the door-opening task (NC<CD<CD/ADHD).
AB - On the basis of Gray's theory, Quay suggested that conduct disorder (CD) is associated with a Behavioural Activation System (BAS) that dominates over the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS), whereas attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterised by an underactive BIS. Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that the dominance of the BAS over the BIS is more pronounced in CD comorbid with ADHD (CD/ADHD) than in CD alone. First of all, a response perseveration task was used, i.e. the door-opening task. In this game, the subject chooses either to open the next door or to stop playing; there is a steadily increasing ratio of punished responses to rewarded responses and a large number of doors opened is indicative of response perseveration. As expected, a steady increase in the number of doors opened was found across normal control (NC) boys, CD boys, and CD/ADHD boys (NC<CD<CD/ADHD). Second, the dominance of the BAS over the BIS was examined by observing the social behaviour of the child in interaction with a research assistant who alternately activated the BAS and the BIS while a game was played. The behaviour of the children was analysed according to ethological methods. Group differences in the frequencies of three out of five behavioural categories were in line with the results of the door-opening task (NC<CD<CD/ADHD).
KW - Aggression
KW - Conduct disorder
KW - Ethology
KW - Hyperactivity
KW - Impulsivity
KW - Social behaviour
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0031822010&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021963098002534
DO - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021963098002534
M3 - Review article
C2 - 9690928
SN - 0021-9630
VL - 39
SP - 643
EP - 651
JO - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines
JF - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines
IS - 5
ER -