Executive attention in adults with and without ADHD – an ERP study

Abstract

The present study investigated executive attention in adults with ADHD. A typically developed adults group and an ADHD group performed a location-direction Strooplike task, while EEG was recorded. The task induced either a low conflict (location judgment blocks) or a high conflict (direction judgments blocks). The results indicated that the ADHD group showed an overall behavioral impairment. In addition, it was found that participants without ADHD performed the low-conflict task significantly better compared to the high-conflict task. This difference was substantially smaller in participants with ADHD. Moreover, we analyzed the slow potential (SP), an ERP component whose amplitude is sensitive to degree of conflict in such tasks. In the control group the SP amplitude, measured across parietal and occipital electrodes, was more positive in the high conflict- relative to the low conflict-condition. However, in the ADHD group no such sensitivity was found. Importantly, the degree of conflict resolution as indicated by the SP amplitude difference between the high and low conflict conditions, correlated significantly with the severity of ADHD symptoms (r=-.531, p< .005). These findings may pinpoint to the neural mechanism that underlies one of the most frequent difficulties of individuals with ADHD, namely, the suppression of irrelevant information. We suggest that when facing a complex stimulus adults with ADHD are prone to process both the relevant and the irrelevant information and as a result they are less effective in processing complex stimuli not just in the context of neuropsychological tasks but rather in everyday functioning.

Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015