Memory Tests in Subgroups of Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Reveals Simultaneous Capacity Deficit

Abstract

Neuropsychological tests were used to evaluate different memory systems in the three subgroups of adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (n=105) using analysis of means, factor analysis, and GLM analysis with covariance of gender, estimated IQ, and level of anxiety and depression measured with the Hospital anxiety and depression scale. A higher IQ level was found in the neuropsychological background tests for the predominantly inattentive subtype (ADD). In the memory tests the dual-task memory/simultaneous capacity tests "Brown-Peterson" Consonant Trigram and Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT) were the most sensitive and were severely reduced in all three subgroups, but only the BVRT revealed a difference between the three ADHD groups. In learning and delayed recall measured with Rey Auditory Verbal learning test and modified Diagnosticum für Cerebralschädigung (mDCS), the Attention Deficit Disorder subgroup had the best learning and delayed capacity of the three groups. A good agreement was found between the interviewed DSM-IV-TR criteria, Conners CAARS S:S scale, and Wender WURS 25-item scales. Despite the difference in number of ADHD criteria for the three ADHD subgroups, the results in the neuropsychological memory tests indicate a severe reduction in all three subgroups of adult ADHD in simultaneous capacity.

Vulnerability to the Irrelevant Sound Effect in Adult ADHD

“…This experimental task will test whether, compared with control participants, the performance of adults with ADHD is more affected by problems with STM, selective attention, sustained attention, or an impairment of all these processes. Based on previous research using memory-span tests, we might expect that STM will not be impaired in adults with ADHD (Dige, Maahr, & Backenroth-Ohsako, 2008). In meta-analyses of neuropsychological studies, attentional deficits seem to represent a core feature of ADHD in adults (Balint et al, 2009; Hervey et al, 2004; Schoechlin & Engel, 2005), though it is not clear which attention subdomains are impaired (Balint et al, 2009).…”

Fractionating Executive Functions of Adults With ADHD

“…Specific ADHD-related executive impairment has been shown in tasks that measure inhibition (Bekker et al, 2005; Boonstra, Kooij, Sergeant, & Buitelaar, 2010; Boonstra et al, 2005; Miller et al, 2012), shifting or set-shifting (Boonstra et al, 2010; Boonstra et al, 2005; Halleland, Haavik, & Lundervold, 2012; Marchetta, Hurks, Krabbendam, & Jolles, 2008; Pazvantoglu et al, 2012; Rohlf et al, 2012; Woods, Lovejoy, Stutts, Ball, & Fals-Stewart, 2002), and access to long-term memory as measured by verbal fluency (Boonstra et al, 2005; Tucha et al, 2005; Woods et al, 2002). Planning (Miller et al, 2012; Schreiber, Javorsky, Robinson, & Stern, 1999), updating (King, Colla, Brass, Heuser, & Von Cramon, 2007; White & Marks, 2004), and dual tasking (Armstrong & Munoz, 2003; Dige, Maahr, & Backenro-Ohsako, 2008) have been less studied in this population, but there are indications that these domains may also be affected. None of the previous studies, however, assessed various executive domains in the same test battery, so it is difficult to determine whether there are specific executive deficits in ADHD or whether general executive functioning is impaired.…”

Neurofeedback as an Intervention to Improve Reading Achievement in Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Inattentive Subtype

“…The combined subtype predominates in the literature as the focus of study (Dige, Maahr, & Backenroth-Ohsako, 2008;Nigg, 2005), with sparse research focusing solely on the hyperactive/impulsive subtype in isolation from symptoms of inattention. Likewise, the inattentive subtype (i.e., attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder without hyperactivity) received little attention until the early 1990s when it was recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (1994).…”