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Method Article
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This protocol illustrates a remedial therapy based on inductive learning and indirect communication (Ericksonian metaphorical hypnosis) that can be applied to children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Particularly, this protocol is intended to test the effectiveness of a go/no-go decision task. Neuroscientific rationale is presented throughout the text.
Many children with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) are known to have executive dysfunction, which weakens their abilities to learn and behave in daily living. This protocol describes the methodology that is required for the intervention (psychotherapy) based on planning, attention, successive, and simultaneous (PASS theory) cognitive processing and fear emotional processing. It provides guiding principles and practical recommendations. A disproportionately high level of fear (dysregulation) increases the vulnerability for dysfunction in learning and behavior. We explain the interplay between emotion and cognition at the neurological level.
A go/no go task (The Adventures of Fundi), which involves decision making, is administered in a PC- mode to a sample of 66 ADHD subjects. The Adventures of Fundi, a computer program, was constructed to induce successive or simultaneous processing when involving the training of planning and selective attention. It aims to improve the executive function with planning and selective attention. If executive function improves, learning improves, and behavior ameliorates. After intervention over 6 months, remission was achieved in 70% of subjects.
The instructor encourages the use of appropriate strategies and points out the ways in which the strategies can be useful in finding the solution to the problem (go/no go). The emphasis is not on rehearsing and adult instructed verbal sequence. The verbalization may reveal the conscious verbalized strategy to solve a task that is not really the strategy being unconsciously used in that case. A self-verbal report is unreliable. This is an inductive learning rather than deductive rule-learning approach central to cognitive PASS training. This inductive training has proved to produce not only near transfer but also far transfer.
Noncognitive factors (emotional factors) must be considered to maximize the benefit of cognitive training. Indirect and metaphorical communication considers the emotional factor.
Decision making is linked to the behavior and most behaviors implies decision-making. Decision making, and, also learning, involves both cognitive and emotional processing. The cognitive processing can be conceptualized and assessed according to the planning, attention, successive and simultaneous (PASS) theory of intelligence1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. According to PASS, any behavior is the output of neurological central information processing10. Therefore, paying attention must be considered a behavior that is independent of the central processing of information1,2,3,7,8,9,10,11,12. One may not pay attention (observable behavior), but the central attention processing may be working on something different. On the other hand, the emotional processing includes the fear processing responsible for self-confidence (self-esteem) or lack of confidence13,14,15. The fear processing is the underlying undifferentiated autonomic physiological basis of all emotions. Like most emotions (or “affects” or “moods”), fear begins in the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure responsible for detecting threats to our well-being.
Both the cognitive and the emotional processing can happen consciously or more often unconsciously, which is a crucial point to substantiate the diagnosis and intervention of ADHD behavior or any other behavior. Growing and converging neuroscientific evidence indicates that not only unconscious-involuntary processing16,17,18,19,20,21 but also anticipatory unconscious processing22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35 are true in decision-making. Particularly, a new study on the neuroscience of the interpersonal unconscious (implicit) subliminal communication is evidence of this36.
Decision-making is based on the self-confident feeling associated with what it is cognitively processed, implicitly more frequently than explicitly37,38,39,40,41. The self-confidence is associated with self-concept (beliefs of the knowledge base), but we claim that decision-making is based on what one feels consciously and unconsciously, but not on deliberate rational calculation of consequences38. In fact, the rational arguments that people express (verbal report) to explain behavior and decision-making are a posteriori phenomenon and a cognitive bias42,43 triggered by the fear processing. First, reaction to feeling occurs, and then an explanation is unconsciously implemented as a posteriori phenomenon. A self-verbal report is questionable. Cognition/emotion research is plagued by problems in which it is not clear what is the emotion response. This is the path to understand the emotional fear response. Therefore, decision making, self-confidence and behavior are closely linked.
From the viewpoint of therapeutic intervention, how exactly should the intervention be carried out? What should be the common and essential properties of the procedure of intervention, mediation, or teaching? Considering the previously expressed procedures, inductive learning2 and indirect communications (metaphor and Ericksonian hypnosis)14,44 are recommended. Growing and converging evidence from neuroscientific investigations45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53 shows some neurological mechanisms of the indirect communication.
Concerning inductive learning, the emphasis is on the child’s solution to the task, not on rehearsing an adult instructed verbal procedure. It aims at enhancing the processing strategies that underlie the task, while avoiding direct teaching of skills. Successful inductive learning is an experience that provides a growth of the self-concept of personal abilities, and so a growth of self-confidence. In contrast, direct teaching involving more-of-the-same kind of work turns off the interest and motivation. The distinctive feature here is the tacit acquisition and use of appropriate processing strategies in contrast to instruction learning; this is the inductive rather than the deductive rule-learning approach. The child must see the insufficiency in the old approach or strategy and the need for developing a new strategy.
Here, we have shown the foundation (rationale) of the technique Fundi's Adventures as a tool of remedial therapy to apply it in the clinical setting. There are no published previous studies with this program Fundi's Adventure. The main advantage of this procedure is that it is not based on the self-verbal report. In contrast, countless alternative techniques are based on deductive learning, direct communication and literal interpretation of the self-verbal report.
In the example presented in this manuscript, Fundi’s Adventure intervention was performed in Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) patients. ADHD is a behavioral dysfunction in terms of inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive behavior, which involves a dysfunctional decision making12. Any behavior implies decision making. ADHD is likely caused by a combination of genetics and earlier experience. The overall goal of this protocol is to test the hypothesis about the effectiveness of a go/no-go decision task (Fundi's Adventures) based on both inductive learning and indirect communication in a sample of ADHD children. It has been reported that the basic neuropsychological constructs of the go/no-go task are preserved in the emotional investigation54.
The protocol follows the guidelines of Fundació Carme Vidal human research ethics committee. Inform consent was obtained.
1. Recruitment of the subjects
NOTE: Recruitment was performed as per the previously published literature12.
2. Procedure
A random, prospective, longitudinal, uncontrolled, analytical study (before – after) was designed. We recruited 66 pharmacologically untreated combined ADHD children according to DSM-V criteria, aged 13-15 years with a mean of 13.89 years with SD ± 0.8 (47 males and 19 females). They also met ADHD criteria according to SNAP-IV-18. Statistical analysis was conducted using a paired Student t-test and effect size statistics (Cohen’s δ) was applied.
All 66 children in the stu...
As expected, the training, Adventures of Fundi, was useful to intervene in ADHD behavioral dysfunction based on both the PASS cognitive processing and self-confidence emotional processing. The success is in terms of better cognitive processing and better behavior. The better cognitive processing is mainly in planning and not so much in attention (Table 1). PASS planning and selective attention join the executive function. It is well known that a better executive function is associated with a better behav...
The authors have nothing to disclose.
We are indebted to all the personnel of the Fundació Carme Vidal NeuroPsicopedagogia, the children, and their parents for their invaluable collaboration in the research presented here. Also, to all professionals who contributed to this study in any way, such as statistical analysis, computational assistance, suggestions, comments, and encouragement, overall to Joan Timoneda. A special thanks goes to our teammates, Jordi Baus, Jordi Hernández, Oscar Mateu, Anna Orri, and Martí Ribas.
Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
The Adventures of Fundi | Fundació Carme Vidal Xifre de Neuropsicopedagogia | --- | The "Adventures of Fundi" has been designed with the objective of helping to improve the concentration, attention and control of impulsivity for Secondary Education students and it is also possible to apply it to Students in the last cycle of Primary Education. To execute the "Adventures of Fundi" a browser with internet conection is required. |
Computer with internet connection and browser | --- | --- | Mozilla, Firefox, Chrome or Safari |
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