Decision making in adults with ADHD.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined decision-making competence in ADHD by using multiple decision tasks with varying demands on analytic versus affective processes.


METHODS
Adults with ADHD and healthy controls completed two tasks of analytic decision making, as measured by the Adult Decision-Making Competence (A-DMC) battery, and two affective decision tasks (the Balloon Analog Risk Task and the lowa Gambling Task).


RESULTS
Although a majority of the ADHD participants were tested under medication, they showed impairments in both types of task. However, logistic regression analysis showed that the applying-decision-rules task of the A-DMC battery was the only significant predictor of ADHD status.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggested that ADHD is associated with impaired decision making in tasks involving a significant degree of cognitive control. Although both deliberative and affective neurocognitive systems probably contributed to ADHD-related problems in decision making, the findings underlined the involvement of prefrontally mediated executive functions.
Mäntylä
Timo
T
Umeå University, Umea, Sweden. timo.mantyla@psy.umu.se
Still
Johanna
J
Gullberg
Stina
S
Del Missier
Fabio
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology*; D003657:Decision Making; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests