Irony Processing in Adults with ADHD: Evidence From Eye-Tracking and Executive Attention Tasks
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts pragmatic communication abilities in children, including their understanding of verbal irony. This study aims to investigate whether adults with ADHD experience similar challenges in interpreting ironic statements, and to examine the role of executive attention abilities in accounting for any observed differences. METHODS: 52 adults with ADHD and 55 neurotypical controls participated in an eye-tracking experiment. They read stories that included either literal or ironic statements and answered targeted comprehension questions. We used measures of working memory and fluid intelligence as independent indices of executive attention. RESULTS: The results showed that adults with ADHD were as accurate as the control group in comprehending irony. However, they experienced an additional processing cost, indicated by increased reading times for ironic statements. While fluid intelligence improved comprehension accuracy in the control group, it did not have the same effect for participants with ADHD. Importantly, higher working memory capacity in adults with ADHD was associated with faster processing times, making their irony processing comparable to that of the control group. CONCLUSION: Our findings underscore the subtle challenges adults with ADHD face in processing irony and highlight the crucial role of working memory in enhancing performance. These insights stress the importance of considering individual cognitive capacities and their interaction with ADHD symptoms to better understand how ADHD impacts pragmatic abilities in adulthood.
Source: Journal of Attention Disorders
Institution: University of Oslo
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,650
OpenAlex ID: W4409828895