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Lateralization of attention in adults with ADHD: Evidence of pseudoneglect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2020

Bartosz Helfer*
Affiliation:
National Heart and Lung Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
Stefanos Maltezos
Affiliation:
Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom Adult Autism and ADHD Service, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
Elizabeth Liddle
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry and Applied Psychology, Institute of Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
Jonna Kuntsi
Affiliation:
Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
Philip Asherson
Affiliation:
Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
*
Author for correspondence: Bartosz Helfer, E-mail: bartosz.helfer@gmail.com

Abstract

Background.

We investigated whether adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show pseudoneglect—preferential allocation of attention to the left visual field (LVF) and a resulting slowing of mean reaction times (MRTs) in the right visual field (RVF), characteristic of neurotypical (NT) individuals —and whether lateralization of attention is modulated by presentation speed and incentives.

Method.

Fast Task, a four-choice reaction-time task where stimuli were presented in LVF or RVF, was used to investigate differences in MRT and reaction time variability (RTV) in adults with ADHD (n = 43) and NT adults (n = 46) between a slow/no-incentive and fast/incentive condition. In the lateralization analyses, pseudoneglect was assessed based on MRT, which was calculated separately for the LVF and RVF for each condition and each study participant.

Results.

Adults with ADHD had overall slower MRT and increased RTV relative to NT. MRT and RTV improved under the fast/incentive condition. Both groups showed RVF-slowing with no between-group or between-conditions differences in RVF-slowing.

Conclusion.

Adults with ADHD exhibited pseudoneglect, a NT pattern of lateralization of attention, which was not attenuated by presentation speed and incentives.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - SA
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the same Creative Commons licence is included and the original work is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Psychiatric Association
Figure 0

Table 1. Background characteristics of the study sample.

Figure 1

Figure 1. Illustration of the experimental paradigm (the Fast Task) with a slow/no-incentive condition and a fast/incentive condition.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Boxplots showing mean reaction time (MRT) data from the slow/no-incentive and the fast/incentive condition of the Fast Task in the group of adults with ADHD and the neurotypical (NT) group. Boxes represent interquartile range with the median and mean (x). Whiskers indicate the maximum and minimum values (excluding the outliers which are represented by the dots). Abbreviations: ADHD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; MRT, mean reaction time; NT, neurotypical.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Boxplots showing reaction time variability (RTV) data from the slow/no-incentive and the fast/incentive condition of the Fast Task in the group of adults with ADHD and the neurotypical (NT) group. Boxes represent interquartile range with the median and mean (x). Whiskers indicate the maximum and minimum values (excluding the outliers which are represented by the dots). Abbreviations: ADHD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; NT, neurotypical; RTV, reaction time variability.

Figure 4

Figure 4. Boxplots showing mean reaction time (MRT) data from the left and right visual field in the slow/no-incentive condition of the Fast Task in the group of adults with ADHD and the neurotypical (NT) group. Boxes represent interquartile range with the median and mean (x). Whiskers indicate the maximum and minimum values (excluding the outliers which are represented by the dots). Abbreviations: ADHD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; MRT, mean reaction time; NT, neurotypical.

Figure 5

Figure 5. Boxplots showing mean reaction time (MRT) data from left and right visual field in the fast/incentive condition of the Fast Task in the group of adults with ADHD and the neurotypical (NT) group. Boxes represent interquartile range with the median and mean (x). Whiskers indicate the maximum and minimum values (excluding the outliers which are represented by the dots). Abbreviations: ADHD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; MRT, mean reaction time; NT, neurotypical.

Figure 6

Figure 6. Mean reaction time in milliseconds in the group of adults with ADHD and the neurotypical group (NT) between the slow/no-incentive condition and the fast/incentive condition in the right visual field (RVF) and the left visual field (LVF). Error bars represent standard error. Abbreviations: ADHD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; LVF, left visual field; NT, neurotypical; RVF, right visual field.

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