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Updated: Aug 15, 2026
Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control
Published on: July 5, 2015
Deficient attention is hard to find: applying the perceptual load model of selective attention to attention deficit
Cynthia L Huang-Pollock1, Joel T Nigg, Thomas H Carr
1Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, University Park, PA 16802, USA. clh39@psu.edu
Background:
Whether selective attention is a primary deficit in childhood Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) remains in active debate.
Methods:
We used the perceptual load paradigm to examine both early and late selective attention in children with the Primarily Inattentive (ADHD-I) and Combined subtypes (ADHD-C) of ADHD.
Results:
No evidence emerged for selective attention deficits in either of the subtypes, but sluggish cognitive tempo was associated with abnormal early selection.
Conclusions:
At least some, and possibly most, children with DSM-IV ADHD have normal selective attention. Results support the move away from theories of attention dysfunction as primary in ADHD-C. In ADHD-I, this was one of the first formal tests of posterior attention network dysfunction, and results did not support that theory. However, ADHD children with sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) warrant more study for possible early selective attention deficits.
