Cognitive Function in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

This study examined the hypothesis that individuals with attention deficit hyperac‐ tivity disorder, predominantly inattentive type (ADHD-I), show both executive function (EF) deficits and non-EF deficits. A group with ADHD-I (n = 16) and a paired control group (n = 21) completed a battery of tasks covering the major domains of EF (planning, working memory, flexibility and inhibition) and non-EF (alertness, divided attention, flexibility, sustained attention, visual field and visual scanning). EF impairments in planning, spatial working memory, flexibility, and inhibition as well as non-EF impairments in divided attention, flexibility, sustained attention and visual scanning were observed in the ADHD-I group. Our results do not support Barkley's (1997) view of ADHD which postulated that only ADHD-C and ADHD-H, but not ADHD-I, are associated with EF deficits. It suggests that ADHD-I and ADHD-C children had similar profiles of cognitive impairment, and the deficits in cognition are not good markers for the classification of ADHD subtypes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V).