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Life

Time moves too slowly for hyperactive boys

By Andy Coghlan

3 June 2009

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Is it actually a faulty perception of time causing rowdy behaviour in children suffering from ADHD?

(Image: Fotex / Rex Features)

CHILDREN with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder might appear rowdy and indisciplined, but they are actually trying to cope with a faulty perception of time.

What to most of us seems like a short stretch of time would drag unbearably for someone with ADHD, says Katya Rubia of the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London. Her team’s research, reported this week, adds to a growing body of evidence for the importance of time perception in a wide range of psychological…

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