Interference effects in a numerical Stroop paradigm in 9- to 12-year-old children with ADHD-C.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by deficient self-regulation, poor attentional control, and poor response inhibition. To date, however, the extent to which these deficits affect basic interference control remains a matter of controversy. Secondly, ADHD has been reported to be associated with arithmetic deficits. It remains unclear whether such deficits are a secondary consequence of the above-mentioned characteristics of ADHD or whether basic numerical magnitude representations are also affected. In the present study we attempted to investigate these issues using a basic numerical interference paradigm. Nine- to twelve-year-old children with ADHD-C (attention-deficit hyperactivity-disorder combined type) and control children without ADHD (each n = 16) were presented with two digits of possibly different physical sizes (e.g., 3 7). This numerical Stroop task requires subjects to make a magnitude classification concerning either the physical or the numerical stimulus dimension. The irrelevant dimension can be congruent (same response), incongruent (different response), or neutral (no response association). Children with ADHD-C performed worse than control children in most analyses. The most important finding was a significant interaction of congruity effects with group in the numerical comparison task. Children with ADHD-C tended to show larger congruity and interference effects than controls, and these were not attributable to a speed-accuracy trade-off. The results might reflect differential processing speeds, or a different degree of automatic activation of physical and numerical magnitudes in children with and without ADHD-C. Alternative explanations, such as insufficient inhibition of selective (domain-specific) attention are also discussed.
Kaufmann
Liane
L
Innsbruck Medical University, Clinical Department of Pediatrics, Austria. liane.kaufmann@uibk.ac.at
Nuerk
Hans-Christoph
HC
D001288:Attention; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011340:Problem Solving; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011930:Reaction Time; D012016:Reference Values; D012858:Size Perception