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Asymmetrical visual-spatial attention in college students diagnosed with ADD/ADHD
Kelly E Jones1, Catherine Craver-Lemley, Anna M Barrett
1The Department of Psychology, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA, USA. kej29@drexel.edu
Summary
College students with attention deficit disorder (ADD)/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show impaired left visual attention, particularly on verbal tasks. This suggests a specific deficit in processing left-sided information for individuals with ADD/ADHD.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Individuals with attention deficit disorder (ADD)/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may exhibit asymmetric spatial attention, specifically deficient processing of stimuli in the left visual hemispace.
- Previous research on behavioral asymmetry in ADD/ADHD using visual cancellation tasks has yielded inconsistent results.
- While studies have assessed children and older adults, college students with ADD/ADHD have not been previously studied regarding spatial attention biases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate left-right asymmetric spatial attention in college students diagnosed with ADD/ADHD.
- To determine if deficits in left visual hemispace processing are present in college students with ADD/ADHD.
- To examine performance differences between verbal and nonverbal cancellation tasks in this population.
Main Methods:
- A group of 24 college students with ADD/ADHD and 24 age-matched controls participated in the study.
- Participants completed both a verbal (letter) cancellation task and a nonverbal (shape) cancellation task.
- Performance was assessed by analyzing omission errors, particularly those on the left side of the visual field.
Main Results:
- The group with ADD/ADHD made significantly more left-sided omission errors compared to the control group on the letter cancellation task.
- No significant group difference in left-sided omission errors was found for the shape cancellation task.
- These findings suggest a specific deficit in left visual processing for verbal stimuli in college students with ADD/ADHD.
Conclusions:
- The results support the hypothesis of left visual inattention in college students with ADD/ADHD, particularly for verbal tasks.
- Further research is needed to explore the functional correlates of these observed attentional phenomena.
- This study highlights the potential for task-specific differences in spatial attention deficits within the ADD/ADHD population.
