Evaluating the ability to follow social cues in ADHD: calibration of a computerised tool (TooN) in children aged from 6 to 10 years

International audience ; Theorical background: Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often have difficulties in different areas of social cognition that affect their relationships with their peers and family [1]. Studies suggest that some children with ADHD have a difficulty in following social cues such as other’s gaze, which can be linked to their relational difficulties in daily life [2]. Our aim is to develop a tool (TooN) that would allow psychologists to identify children who do not follow non-verbal social cues, in order to refine their cognitive remediation therapy. To achieve the calibration of this tool, we studied the effect of age and gender on the ability to follow social cues of children without disorders.Method: 339 children without disorders, aged from 6 to 10 years old, were included in the calibration of TooN and were divided into 5 groups accordingly to their age (6 years old, n=67, 37 girls ; 7 years old, n=69, 26 girls ; 8 years old, n=76, 45 girls ; 9 years old, n=64, 33 girls ; 10 years old, n=63, 35 girls). TooN is a computerised tool that assesses the ability to follow non-verbal social cues close to real life, using videos of people gazing and/or pointing at everyday objects. The children's task was to press a button as quickly as possible when an object appeared on the screen, at the left or right of an individual. In some trials, the side of the object appearance was cued by the individual (i.e., congruent trials), either by deviating his or her gaze (i.e., Gaze condition) or by pointing with his or her finger (i.e., Pointing condition). In other trials, the individual gazed or pointed to the opposite side of the object appearance (i.e. incongruent trials). Standard effect sizes were calculated for Pointing and Gaze by making the difference between reaction times obtained in incongruent trials and reaction times obtained in congruent trials. A positive effect size means that children follow other’s gaze or pointing finger to the surrounding space.Results: ...