Two forms of implicit learning in childhood ADHD.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity mediated by frontal-striatal-cerebellar dysfunction. These circuits support implicit learning of perceptual-motor sequences but not visual-spatial context. ADHD and control children performed the Alternating Serial Reaction Time (ASRT) task, a measure of sequence learning, and the Contextual Cueing (CC) task, a measure of spatial contextual learning. Relative to controls, children with ADHD showed inconsistent ASRT learning but did not differ on CC learning. Thus, implicit sequence learning, a cognitive process mediated by frontal-striatal-cerebellar circuitry that is not under executive control, was atypical in ADHD.
Barnes
Kelly Anne
KA
Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA. barnesk@npg.wustl.edu
Howard
James H
JH
Howard
Darlene V
DV
Kenealy
Laura
L
Vaidya
Chandan J
CJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012691:Serial Learning / Q000502:physiology*