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Interference control in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Rosa van Mourik1, Alky Papanikolau, Joyce van Gellicum-Bijlhout

  • 1Department of Clinical Neuropsychology, VU University, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. R.van.mourik@psy.vu.nl

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
|October 22, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) do not show impaired interference control compared to controls. This study found equal performance on auditory and visual interference tasks, challenging previous assumptions about ADHD and cognitive control.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Psychology

Background:

  • Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is often associated with impaired interference control.
  • This association is primarily based on verbal-visual interference tasks like the Stroop Color Word task.
  • The extent of interference control deficits in ADHD across different sensory modalities remains debated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate interference control in medication-naïve children with ADHD.
  • To compare auditory and visual interference processing in ADHD and neurotypical children.
  • To assess the validity of the view that ADHD involves diminished interference control.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted comparing medication-naïve children with ADHD to normal controls.
  • Participants completed an Auditory Stroop task and a Simon task.
  • Interference effects were measured in both auditory and visual modalities.

Main Results:

  • Both children with ADHD and normal controls exhibited significant interference effects on both tasks.
  • The magnitude of interference was comparable between the ADHD group and the control group across both modalities.
  • No significant group differences in interference control were detected.

Conclusions:

  • Children with ADHD do not appear to have a diminished ability to control interference compared to neurotypical children.
  • Interference control deficits are not evident in either the auditory or visual modality in this ADHD sample.
  • Findings challenge the exclusive reliance on verbal-visual tasks for understanding interference control in ADHD.

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