Colour perception in ADHD.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with unexplained impairments on speeded naming of coloured stimuli. These deficits may reflect hypofunctioning retinal dopaminergic mechanisms impairing particularly blue-yellow colour discrimination. Colour perception and rapid colour naming ability were investigated in 14 children with ADHD and 13 healthy peers matched for age, gender, and IQ, using the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test (FMT) and the Stroop-Colour-Word test. Children with ADHD committed more errors on the FMT, particularly on discrimination of colours along the blue-yellow axis, and were slower on Stroop subtests involving colour naming. However, the latter deficit was accounted for similarly by blue-yellow and red-green discrimination abilities. Blue-yellow colour perception problems in ADHD contribute to but do not fully explain the observed slowed colour naming.
Banaschewski
Tobias
T
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Göttingen, Germany. tbanasc@gwdg.de
Ruppert
Sinje
S
Tannock
Rosemary
R
Albrecht
Björn
B
Becker
Andreas
A
Uebel
Henrik
H
Sergeant
Joseph A
JA
Rothenberger
Aribert
A
D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index