title: Language production strategies and disfluencies in multi-clause network descriptions: a study of adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
abstract: A prominent behavioral manifestation of impulsivity in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is inappropriate language production, such as talking excessively, blurting out answers, and interrupting others.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In this study, we examined language production in ADHD and non-ADHD controls to determine whether these types of language production problems are apparent in adults with ADHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants (18-35 years old, 53.3% male) were asked to describe networks of colored dots that contained two branches that differed in length and complexity. According to the Minimal-Load Principle (Levelt, 1989), participants should prefer to describe a shorter and less complex branch first, in order to minimize planning and memory demands when formulating a description of the network. The dependent measures focused on which branch participants chose to describe first and the fluency of the descriptions. Four types of disfluency were examined: filled pauses, silent pauses, repetitions, and repairs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no difference between ADHD participants and controls in the decisions they made when describing the networks (p > .10, η² = .004). Participants in both groups preferred to describe a short branch before describing a long branch and decisions were unaffected by complexity. However, ADHD participants did produce more words overall, t(73) = -2.33, p < .05, η² = .07, and they also produced more disfluencies, F(4, 70) = 2.98, p < .05, η² = .15, even after adjusting for number of words produced.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest less language efficiency and reduced fluency in ADHD, and that language production issues remain in adults with ADHD, similar to the issues commonly reported in children with ADHD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. paul.engelhardt@northumbria.ac.uk
authors.forename: Paul E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Engelhardt
authors.forename: Fernanda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Joel T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Nigg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007802:Language; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D055815:Young Adult