Executive function processes: inhibition, working memory, planning and attention in children and youth with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Year: 2006
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This study examines the roles of inhibition, attention, working memory, and\nplanning in youth with and without ADHD. As conceptualized in theories of attention,\ninhibition, and working memory, difficulties with these executive processes interact to\nmanifest in the behavioral syndrome(s) of ADHD. Barkley (1997) proposed disinhibition\nas the primary deficit of ADHD. Rapport, Chung, Shore, Denney, & Isaacs, (2000)\ntheorized that ADHD results from a primary deficit in working memory. Mirsky (1987)\nproposed a model of attention which children with ADHD have deficits in abilities to\nfocus/execute, encode and sustain attention. Posner and Petersen (1990) proposed that\nthree attentional networks are responsible for attentional processes and those children\nwith ADHD have deficits in the vigilance network. To investigate the contributions of\ninhibition, working memory, attention, and planning in executive dysfunction in children\nwith ADHD, measures were selected from factor analytic studies.\nChildren with ADHD-Combined Type demonstrated poorer inhibition and\nworking memory than children with no diagnosis after controlling for IQ effects. No\ndifferences in planning and attention were indicated after controlling for IQ effects.\nHowever, a predictive discriminant analysis indicated that none of the executive\nprocesses contributed to the prediction of group membership. Given correlational and\npredictive discriminant analysis results, further analyses were conducted to investigate\nthe contribution of the measures selected for the domains. The theoretical model did not\nrepresent a good fit of the data. A three-factor model indicated the best representation\nsuggesting that inhibition and attention were not separable. There were no group\ndifferences with the revised measurement model for inhibition/attention, working\nmemory and planning. Taken together, results indicated measures originally selected to\ntap executive function may not be clean measures of inhibition, working memory,\nplanning, or attention processes. In addition, recently proposed theories overlap and\nconceptualize the multiple constructs involved in ADHD with a variety of\nmethodologies, further contributing to difficulties in interpreting results and\nmeasurement issues.
Author: Monica E. Wolfe
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2214179233