INTRODUCTION: This study investigated the performance of a sample of Brazilian children aged 4-5 years on the Conners' Kiddie CPT (K-CPT), a computer-based task used to assess attention and inhibitory control in children. METHODS: Scores of Brazilian children pre-screened for attention disorders were obtained using the K-CPT, and data were compared with North American norms. RESULTS: Age and gender effects on the Brazilian sample were similar to those previously described. However, the lack of screening for attention deficits might have distorted normative scores of the K-CPT in the USA because Brazilian boys and girls had better scores than the North American children in almost all measures. CONCLUSION: The screening procedures used in Brazil, in addition to the previously described age and gender effects on sustained attention, indicate that the results described in the present study constitute appropriate local performance scores and, as such, are useful in the evaluation of pre-school children in Brazil until national norms are established.
Continuous performance test; preschool children; attention; cross-cultural comparative study
