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Proactive Control of Emotional Information in Adult ADHD
Anna Längle1, Ulrich Ettinger2, Stefan Duschek1
1Institute of Psychology, UMIT Tirol, Eduard-Wallnöfer-Zentrum 1, 6060 Hall in Tirol, Austria.
Journal of Cognition
|May 18, 2026
Summary
Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show impairments in attention and processing speed. However, their ability to use contextual cues for proactive cognitive control remains intact, similar to healthy controls.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Proactive control involves directing information processing towards a task goal when anticipating an event.
- Adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by attention and processing speed deficits.
- Investigating proactive control in ADHD is crucial for understanding cognitive functioning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine proactive control of emotional information in adults with ADHD.
- To assess the role of contextual cue utilization in proactive control within an ADHD population.
- To compare proactive control mechanisms between individuals with ADHD and healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- A manual face-word Stroop task was employed.
- Participants (adults with ADHD and healthy controls) identified facial expressions while ignoring incongruent word stimuli.
- Contextual cue utilization was manipulated by varying the proportion of incongruent trials (mostly congruent vs. mostly incongruent contexts).
Main Results:
- Individuals with ADHD exhibited higher error rates and slower reaction times compared to controls.
- Context effects (differences in performance between congruent and incongruent trials) were observed.
- These context effects were comparable between the ADHD and control groups, irrespective of the context type (mostly congruent or mostly incongruent).
Conclusions:
- The capacity to utilize contextual cues to enhance proactive cognitive control is preserved in adult ADHD.
- Despite attention and processing speed impairments, individuals with ADHD can effectively employ proactive control strategies.
- Findings highlight preserved contextual cue utilization in ADHD, suggesting specific rather than global cognitive control deficits.
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