Negative priming within a stroop task in children and adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, their siblings, and independent controls.
OBJECTIVE
Negative priming (NP) is the slowed response to a stimulus that was previously ignored. Response times in NP task conditions were compared with the interference provided by congruent/incongruent stimuli in a Stroop condition in the same task in children diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), their unaffected siblings, and independent controls.


METHODS
Speed, accuracy, and variability of responses were compared using a computerized NP Stroop test for 35 children with ADHD, 24 siblings without diagnosis, and 37 independent healthy controls aged 6 to 17 years.


RESULTS
NP was evident at test onset for congruent trials in children without a diagnosis and was reduced initially in those with ADHD occurring in the absence of a significant Stroop interference effect and independently of age or symptom severity. Incongruency masked NP effects. Cases showed more intraindividual response-time variability.


CONCLUSIONS
Both NP in normal children and its reduction in ADHD cases attenuated across trials reflecting the increased facilitation from previous stimulation.
Christiansen
Hanna
H
Philipps-University Marburg, Germany.
Oades
Robert D
RD
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018579:Patient Selection; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D035781:Siblings; D057190:Stroop Test