Work

Response inhibition and morphological awareness in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: evidence from behavior and ERPs

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Background: Response inhibition is an important predictor of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and many studies have shown that phonological awareness is associated with inhibition in native English-speaking children. Unlike English, which is phonetic, Chinese is an ideographic language. In the context of Chinese as a native language, do children with ADHD have deficits in morphological awareness? The present study explored the differences in response inhibition and morphological awareness between children with ADHD and typically developing (TD) children using behavioral data and event-related potentials (ERPs) to verify whether there is a morphological awareness deficit in children with ADHD. Method: Go/No-go task was used to verify the presence of response inhibition deficits in children with ADHD, in which participants were required to respond rapidly to a "Go" stimulus and inhibit responses to a "No-go" stimulus. The Morphological Awareness task was used to verify the presence of a morphological awareness deficit in children with ADHD, in which participants were required to make judgement about true word and pseudo-word. Results: Go/No-go task shows children with ADHD had significantly lower correct No-go stimuli and longer reaction times than TD children, lower evoked N200 amplitudes, and significantly impaired inhibitory control in children with ADHD. The morphological awareness task required participants to recognize pseudo-words and true words, and to respond to pseudo-words. The results showed no difference between the two groups of children in terms of correct response rate, N400 wave amplitude, and latency on the morphological awareness test. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that children with ADHD have deficits in response inhibition compared to TD children and do not have significant deficits in morphological awareness.

Source: PeerJ

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.19863