Distraction by salient stimuli in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Evidence for the role of task difficulty in bottom-up and top-down processing

Schneidt, Alexander; Jusyte, Aiste; Rauss, Karsten; Schönenberg, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2018.01.021

Cited by 15 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 94 publications

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“…Our study may contribute to an ongoing discussion on the conceptualization of ADHD and whether the disorder is more related to bottom-up, top-down cognitive deficiencies, or their interplay. Several studies discussed that bottom-up processing speed [ 74 ] and distractibility [ 75 ] are highly influenced by a motivational deficit in ADHD. For example, findings of previous studies indicated that reaction time and omission errors are associated with reward and increasing boredom.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Basic and complex cognitive functions in Adult ADHD

et al. 2021

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Background Many clinical studies reported deficits in basic and complex cognitive functions in adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, the extent in which deficits in basic functions (i.e., processing speed and distractibility) contribute to complex cognitive impairments (i.e., working memory, planning, cognitive flexibility, memory functions) in adults with ADHD is not well-studied. So far, literature show only one study, revealing that basic functions explain 27–74% of executive dysfunctions. Yet, the authors reported that findings could be affected by the selection of neuropsychological tests. The goal of the present research is to replicate such a finding using a different sample and a different set of neuropsychological tests. Methods Forty-eight adult patients with ADHD were compared with 48 healthy controls in basic cognitive functions, namely processing speed and distractibility and more complex cognitive functions, namely selective attention, cognitive flexibility, planning, working memory, verbal fluency, and verbal memory. Basic and complex cognitive functions were assessed using the Vigilance and Sustained Attention, Selective Attention, N-Back, Tower of London, Trail Making Test, Word Fluency, and Verbal Learning and Memory. Results and conclusion Logistic regression analyses showed that impairments in complex cognitive functions explained 25% of the variance in ADHD diagnosis. The explained variance dropped from 25% to 9% after considering basic functions of processing speed and distractibility. This 64% reduction highlights the importance of basic functions for impairments in complex functions in patients with ADHD.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Basic and complex cognitive functions in Adult ADHD

et al. 2021

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“…A detailed description of the paradigm and the used stimuli can be found in the study by Schneidt et al. (2018).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For all analyses or statistical comparisons between Task 1 and Task 2, only low perceptual demand trials were selected since this allowed us to analyze emotional responsiveness under conditions that were very similar with regard to their cognitive demand. Emotional (positive, negative) and neutral images were selected based on their normative scores for arousal and valence (Lang et al., 2008) from the International Affective Picture System (for further details, see Schneidt et al., 2018). The stimulus material excluded images with possible spatial anchors (e.g., black frames).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The present study aimed to replicate and extend the existing literature by using a novel paradigm, which was specifically designed to examine the role of the attentional focus in the processing of emotionally salient information (Schneidt et al., 2018). For this purpose, participants (incarcerated violent offenders with psychopathic traits (VOs) and controls (CTLs)) were presented with rectangles varying in spatial orientation displayed in front of positive, negative, and neutral pictures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

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Does attentional focus modulate affective information processing in male violent offenders with psychopathic traits?

Scheeff

Schneidt

Schönenberg

2021

J of Neuroscience Research

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Antisocial and psychopathic individuals are characterized by a reduced responsivity to affective information. Yet, the role of attentional processes as possible modulator of these deficits is poorly understood. The current study investigated early and late processing of emotional stimuli in a sample of incarcerated offenders while manipulating the attentional focus. Twenty‐seven male violent offenders with psychopathic traits and 27 healthy controls completed two experimental tasks while electroencephalography (EEG) data were collected. Task 1 assessed indirect processing of emotional or neutral distractors during a perceptual judgment task, while Task 2 measured direct processing of the emotional or neutral stimuli and required participants to rate the stimuli regarding valence and arousal. EEG data indicated no differences in early stage processing (early posterior negativity) between the experimental groups. However, we found significant group differences with regard to the late processing stage (late positive potential, LPP). Controls showed increased LPP amplitudes in Task 2 as compared to Task 1, indicating that task demands (i.e., attentional focus) had an effect on the processing of the emotional stimuli. In contrast, LPP amplitudes in the violent offender group were largely unaffected by task demands, suggesting specific late alterations in the neural processing of emotional stimuli. In sum, this study provides new evidence for a modulatory impact of attention on affective information processing in male violent offenders with psychopathic traits.

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“…It can be assumed that bottom-up attention also modulates neural activity within the visual system, but this mechanism is comparably less well understood ( Noudoost et al, 2010 ; Moore and Zirnsak, 2017 ; Thiele and Bellgrove, 2018 ). This is unfortunate, because several neuropsychiatric disorders have been linked to deficits in bottom-up attentional processing, such as schizophrenia ( Javitt, 2009 ; Neuhaus et al, 2011 ) and ADHD ( Schneidt et al, 2018 ). In contrast to earlier works, we want to give a more complete overview of the neurochemical influences on both aspects of visual attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurochemistry of Visual Attention

Lockhofen

Mulert

2021

Front. Neurosci.

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Visual attention is the cognitive process that mediates the selection of important information from the environment. This selection is usually controlled by bottom-up and top-down attentional biasing. Since for most humans vision is the dominant sense, visual attention is critically important for higher-order cognitive functions and related deficits are a core symptom of many neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders. Here, we summarize the importance and relative contributions of different neuromodulators and neurotransmitters to the neural mechanisms of top-down and bottom-up attentional control. We will not only review the roles of widely accepted neuromodulators, such as acetylcholine, dopamine and noradrenaline, but also the contributions of other modulatory substances. In doing so, we hope to shed some light on the current understanding of the role of neurochemistry in shaping neuron properties contributing to the allocation of attention in the visual field.

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Distraction by salient stimuli in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Evidence for the role of task difficulty in bottom-up and top-down processing

Cited by 15 publications

References 94 publications

Basic and complex cognitive functions in Adult ADHD

Basic and complex cognitive functions in Adult ADHD

Does attentional focus modulate affective information processing in male violent offenders with psychopathic traits?

Neurochemistry of Visual Attention

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