Temporal reward discounting and ADHD: task and symptom specific effects.
This study investigated a new aspect of the association between ADHD symptoms and delay aversion. Participants were 55 undergraduate Psychology students with varying levels of self-reported ADHD symptoms. Various delay aversion tasks were used, including real and hypothetical temporal discounting tasks previously used in the field of ADHD. ADHD symptoms, specifically hyperactivity/impulsivity, were associated with steep discounting, but only when rewards and delays were real. These data suggest that (1) real temporal discounting tasks are more sensitive to ADHD-related delay aversion than hypothetical ones; (2) delay aversion may be a causal mechanism specifically associated with ADHD-Combined and Hyperactive/Impulsive Types but not Inattentive Type. These findings may help refine behavioral treatment approaches and models of ADHD.
Scheres
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A
Psychology Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. ascheres@u.arizona.edu
Lee
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A
Sumiya
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M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012201:Reward; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*