title: Response style differences in the inattentive and combined subtypes of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
abstract: This study examined potential differences between the inattentive and combined ADHD subtypes using laboratory tasks assessing behavioral inhibitory processes. Seventy-five children completed two tasks of behavioral inhibition believed to isolate different processes: the cued reaction time task (CRT), a basic inhibition task, and the go/no-go task (GNG), a complex inhibition task that incorporates motivational contingencies. Three groups of participants were identified, including ADHD/Inattentive (n = 17), ADHD/Combined (n = 37), and comparison (n = 21). Results indicated that rather than showing behavioral inhibition deficits, the ADHD/I children appeared overly inhibited, as evidenced by slower reaction times across the two tasks and significantly higher errors of omission in the GNG task. Additionally, the ADHD/I children did not demonstrate cue dependency effects on the CRT task, suggesting that they were failing to incorporate relevant information before making a response. The sluggish and inhibited performance of the ADHD/I group challenges the idea that it is a subtype of ADHD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 202A Kastle Hall, Lexington, KY, 40506-0044, USA.
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Derefinko
authors.forename: Zachary W
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Milich
authors.forename: Mark T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Fillmore
authors.forename: Elizabeth P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Lorch
authors.forename: Donald R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Lynam
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011930:Reaction Time; D015203:Reproducibility of Results