Metacognitive Ratings on Cognitive Tasks: Task Difficulty and Effort Rating Differences in Children With ADHD and...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Background:

• Metacognitive monitoring is less studied in children with ADHD than task performance.
• Children with ADHD often show deficits in executive attention and control, impacting cognitive task performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate differences in metacognitive monitoring between children with ADHD and neurotypical children.
• To examine metacognitive ratings of task difficulty and effort in relation to cognitive performance.

Main Methods:

• Eighty children (38 ADHD, 42 neurotypical), aged 8-12, completed cognitive tasks assessing intelligence and executive functioning.
• Participants rated perceived task difficulty and effort after each task.

Main Results:

• Children with ADHD reported significantly lower effort ratings across tasks compared to neurotypical controls.
• No significant differences were observed in task difficulty ratings between groups.
• Metacognitive effort ratings were trait-like, while difficulty ratings were task-specific.

Conclusions:

• Lower reported effort, not perceived difficulty, is associated with challenges in children with ADHD.
• Metacognitive monitoring of effort may offer insights into ADHD-related difficulties beyond objective performance measures.