Adhd Behavior Problems And Near- And Long-term Scholastic Achievement Differential Mediating Effects Of Verbal And Visuospatial Memory

The current study examined verbal and visuospatial memory abilities as potential mediators of the relationship among ADHD behavior problems and near- and long-term scholastic achievement. Scholastic achievement was measured initially and at 4-year follow-up in an ethnically diverse sample of children (N = 325). Nested composite (reading, math, language) and domain-specific reading structural equation models revealed that ADHD behavior problems exerted a negative influence on scholastic achievement measures, both initially and at follow-up. Much of this influence, however, was mediated by verbal memory’s contribution to near-term achievement, whereas visuospatial memory contributed more robustly to long-term achievement. For the domain-specific math achievement model, the collective influence of verbal and visuospatial memory fully mediated the direct influence of ADHD behavior problems on nearterm math achievement, and visuospatial memory alone contributed to both near- and long-term achievement. In all models, measured intelligence made no contribution to later achievement beyond its initial influence on early achievement. The results contribute to the understanding of the developmental trajectory of scholastic achievement, and have potential implications for developing remedial programs targeting verbal and visual memory deficits in children with ADHD behavior problem

Quality Of Life Impairments Among Adults With Social Phobia: The Impact Of Subtype

Social phobia is characterized by extreme fear in social or performance situations in which the individual may be exposed to embarrassment or scrutiny by others, which creates occupational, social and academic impairment. To date, there are few data examining the relationship of social phobia impairments to quality of life. In this investigation, we examined how demographic characteristics, comorbidity, and social competence are related to quality of life among patients with social phobia and normal controls. In addition, we examined the impact of social phobia subtype. Results indicated that individuals with generalized social phobia had significantly impaired quality of life when compared to individuals with no disorder or individuals with nongeneralized social phobia. Comorbid disorders decreased quality of life only for patients with nongeneralized social phobia. Hierarchical linear regression revealed that a diagnosis of social phobia and observer ratings of social effectiveness exerted strong and independent effects on quality of life scores. Results are discussed in terms of the role of social anxiety, social competence, and comorbidity on the quality of life for adults with social phobia. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd

Facial Emotion Recognition In Children With High Functioning Autism And Children With Social Phobia

Recognizing facial affect is essential for effective social functioning. This study examines emotion recognition abilities in children aged 7-13 years with High Functioning Autism (HFA = 19), Social Phobia (SP = 17), or typical development (TD = 21). Findings indicate that all children identified certain emotions more quickly (e.g., happ

Inhibitory Control and Information Processing in ADHD: Comparing the Dual Task and Performance Adjustment Hypotheses

Inhibition is a key neurocognitive domain in ADHD that is commonly assessed with the stop-signal task. The stop-signal involves both go and stop trials; previous research indicates that response times are reliably slower to go trials during tasks with vs. without intermittent stop trials. However, it is unclear whether this pattern reflects deliberate slowing to maximize inhibitory success (performance adjustment hypothesis) and/or disrupted bottom-up information processing due to increased cognitive demands (dual-task hypothesis). Given the centrality of go responding for estimating children\u27s inhibitory speed, finding that children with ADHD slow differently -or for different reasons- has the potential to inform cognitive and self-regulatory theories of ADHD. The current study used a carefully-controlled experimental design to assess the mechanisms underlying stop signal-related slowing in ADHD. Children ages 8-13 with (n = 81) and without ADHD (n = 63) completed the stop-signal task and a control task that differed only in the presence/absence of stop trials. Using drift-diffusion modeling, Bayesian repeated-measures ANOVAs revealed a pattern consistent with the performance adjustment hypothesis, such that children adopted more cautious response strategies (BF10 = 6221.78; d = 0.38) but did not show changes in processing speed (BF01 = 3.08; d = 0.12) or encoding/motor speed (BF01 = 5.73; d = 0.07) when inhibition demands were introduced. Importantly, the ADHD/Non-ADHD groups showed equivalent effects of intermittent stop trials (BF01 = 4.30-5.56). These findings suggest intact self-regulation/performance monitoring in the context of adapting to increased inhibitory demands in ADHD, which has important implications for the continued isolation of potential mechanisms associated with ADHD symptoms and impairment

Objectively-Measured Impulsivity And Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd): Testing Competing Predictions From The Working Memory And Behavioral Inhibition Models Of Adhd

Impulsivity is a hallmark of two of the three DSM-IV ADHD subtypes and is associated with myriad adverse outcomes. Limited research, however, is available concerning the mechanisms and processes that contribute to impulsive responding by children with ADHD. The current study tested predictions from two competing models of ADHD - working memory (WM) and behavioral inhibition (BI) - to examine the extent to which ADHD-related impulsive responding was attributable to model-specific mechanisms and processes. Children with ADHD (n021) and typically developing children (n020) completed laboratory tasks that provided WM (domain-general central executive [CE], phonological/visuospatial storage/rehearsal) and BI indices (stop-signal reaction time [SSRT], stop-signal delay, mean reaction time). These indices were examined as potential mediators of ADHD-related impulsive responding on two objective and diverse laboratory tasks used commonly to assess impulsive responding (CPT: continuous performance test; VMTS: visual match-to-sample). Bias-corrected, bootstrapped mediation analyses revealed that CE processes significantly attenuated between-group impulsivity differences, such that the initial large-magnitude impulsivity differences were no longer significant on either task after accounting for ADHD-related CE deficits. In contrast, SSRT partially mediated ADHD-related impulsive responding on the CPT but not VMTS. This partial attenuation was no longer significant after accounting for shared variance between CE and SSRT; CE continued to attenuate the ADHD-impulsivity relationship after accounting for SSRT. These findings add to the growing literature implicating CE deficits in core ADHD behavioral and functional impairments, and suggest that cognitive interventions targeting CE rather than storage/rehearsal or BI processes may hold greater promise for alleviating ADHDrelated impairments. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

Adhd And Behavioral Inhibition: A Re-Examination Of The Stop-Signal Task

The current study investigates two recently identified threats to the construct validity of behavioral inhibition as a core deficit of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) based on the stop-signal task: calculation of mean reaction time from go-trials presented adjacent to intermittent stop-trials, and non-reporting of the stop-signal delay metric. Children with ADHD (n=12) and typically developing (TD) children (n=11) were administered the standard stop-signal task and three variant stop-signal conditions. These included a no-tone condition administered without the presentation of an auditory tone; an ignore-tone condition that presented a neutral (i.e., not associated with stopping) auditory tone; and a second ignore-tone condition that presented a neutral auditory tone after the tone had been previously paired with stopping. Children with ADHD exhibited significantly slower and more variable reaction times to go-stimuli, and slower stop-signal reaction times relative to TD controls. Stop-signal delay was not significantly different between groups, and both groups\u27 go-trial reaction times slowed following meaningful tones. Collectively, these findings corroborate recent meta-analyses and indicate that previous findings of stop-signal performance deficits in ADHD reflect slower and more variable responding to visually presented stimuli and concurrent processing of a second stimulus, rather than deficits of motor behavioral inhibition. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Understanding Phonological Memory Deficits In Boys With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd): Dissociation Of Short-Term Storage And Articulatory Rehearsal Processes

The current study dissociated and examined the two primary components of the phonological working memory subsystem-the short-term store and articulatory rehearsal mechanism-in boys with ADHD (n=18) relative to typically developing boys (n=15). Word lists of increasing length (2, 4, and 6 words per trial) were presented to and recalled by children following a brief (3 s) interval to assess their phonological short-term storage capacity. Children\u27s ability to utilize the articulatory rehearsal mechanism to actively maintain information in the phonological shortterm store was assessed using word lists at their established memory span but with extended rehearsal times (12 s and 21 s delays). Results indicate that both phonological shortterm storage capacity and articulatory rehearsal are impaired or underdeveloped to a significant extent in boys with ADHD relative to typically developing boys, even after controlling for age, SES, IQ, and reading speed. Larger magnitude deficits, however, were apparent in short-term storage capacity (ES=1.15 to 1.98) relative to articulatory rehearsal (ES=0.47 to 1.02). These findings are consistent with previous reports of deficient phonological short-term memory in boys with ADHD, and suggest that future attempts to develop remedial cognitive interventions for children with ADHD will need to include active components that require children to hold increasingly more information over longer time intervals. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Adhd And Working Memory: The Impact Of Central Executive Deficits And Exceeding Storage/Rehearsal Capacity On Observed Inattentive Behavior

Inattentive behavior is considered a core and pervasive feature of ADHD; however, an alternative model challenges this premise and hypothesizes a functional relationship between working memory deficits and inattentive behavior. The current study investigated whether inattentive behavior in children with ADHD is functionally related to the domain-general central executive and/or subsidiary storage/rehearsal components of working memory. Objective observations of children\u27s attentive behavior by independent observers were conducted while children with ADHD (n=15) and typically developing children (n=14)completed counterbalanced tasks that differentially manipulated central executive, phonological storage/rehearsal, and visuospatial storage/rehearsal demands. Results of latent variable and effect size confidence interval analyses revealed two conditions that completely accounted for the attentive behavior deficits in children with ADHD: (a) placing demands on central executive processing, the effect of which is evident under even low cognitive loads, and (b) exceeding storage/rehearsal capacity, which has similar effects on children with ADHD and typically developing children but occurs at lower cognitive loads for children with ADHD. © Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009