Behavioral sensitivity to changing reinforcement contingencies in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Brent Alsop1, Emi Furukawa2, Paula Sowerby3
1Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Summary
Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show reduced ability to adapt behavior when reinforcement changes. This may explain challenges in daily life adaptation for individuals with ADHD.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Altered sensitivity to positive reinforcement is a proposed factor in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms.
- Understanding reinforcement sensitivity is key to explaining ADHD-related behavioral challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the adaptive behavior of children with and without ADHD in response to changing reinforcement availability.
- To evaluate how children with ADHD adjust their behavior under conditions of uncertain reward.
Main Methods:
- A signal-detection task was administered to 167 children (97 with ADHD).
- Participants responded to stimuli associated with varying reinforcement frequencies, which switched unpredictably.
- Reinforcement was withheld for a subset of participants to assess extinction learning.
Main Results:
- Both groups initially favored the more reinforced response.
- Children with ADHD showed a significantly smaller adjustment in response bias when reinforcement contingencies changed.
- Only typically developing children modified their response patterns when reinforcement was discontinued.
Conclusions:
- Children with ADHD exhibit less behavioral adaptation to changing reinforcement schedules compared to typically developing peers.
- This diminished adaptive capacity may underlie difficulties faced by children with ADHD in novel situations with shifting reward structures.
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