Impact of Emotions on Test of Variables of Attention(TOVA) Performance in a Pediatric Clinical Population: A Retrospective Study.

This article investigates the impact of parent-reported emotional symptoms, specifically anxiety and depression, on performance in the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA) among a pediatric clinical population aged 8 to 18 years. Using retrospective data from 216 patients assessed at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, the study found no significant association between emotional symptoms measured by the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) and Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) and TOVA performance indices (response time variability, response time, commission errors, omission errors), even after controlling for sex and ADHD symptom severity. Additionally, changes in TOVA performance over time were not influenced by emotional symptom levels. The findings suggest that TOVA results are robust against reported negative emotional symptoms in youth, supporting its reliability for assessing attentional issues in clinical settings, though the authors recommend further research into other factors such as motor disabilities or sleepiness that might affect test outcomes.