Item Details

abstract

Individuals with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have been shown to experience greater deficits in executive functioning (EF). While less is known about the extent to which deficits in EF continue into adulthood, research suggests that adults with ADHD have more difficulty on measures of EF that rely on inhibition (Boonstra et al., 2010). Task-switching paradigms are cognitive tasks that require behavioral inhibition, as one must be able to inhibit responses that are no longer relevant to the current task in order to readily shift from one task set to the next. Thus, task-switching paradigms provide a method to assess inhibition in adults with ADHD. The purpose of the current study was to examine task-switching performance to determine if there are differences in persisting inhibition in adults with ADHD. To test this hypothesis, performance on a task-switching paradigm with various response-cue intervals, an operation span task (OSPAN), and self-reported deficits in EF were compared between an ADHD and control group. The results showed that individuals in the ADHD group experienced persisting inhibition on the task-switching paradigm and performed as well as the control group on the OSPAN task but reported significantly more problems with EF. These results suggest that EF processes different from those involved in task-switching may be compromised in ADHD.

subject

ADHD

executive function

inhibition

repetition cost

task switching

contributor

Gallitano, Kaitlyn (author)

Jennings, Janine (committee chair)

Blumenthal, Terry (committee member)

Sali, Anthony (committee member)

date

2020-08-28T08:35:32Z (accessioned)

2022-08-27T08:30:18Z (available)

2020 (issued)

degree

Neuroscience – MS (discipline)

embargo

2022-08-27 (terms)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/96960 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

title

THE N-2 TASK-SWITCHING PARADIGM AND ATTENTION-DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

type

Thesis