Involuntary remembering and ADHD: Do individuals with ADHD symptoms experience high volumes of involuntary memories in everyday life?

Abstract

Spontaneous mind wandering has been implicated as a feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and researchers have wondered if spontaneous remembering is also a feature of ADHD. In this study, we compared spontaneous cognition, principally involuntary autobiographical memories, in participants who scored inside the ADHD range on BAARS-IV to those who scored outside of the ADHD range. In Study 1, participants reported their involuntary memories and spontaneous thoughts on a laboratory measure of involuntary memory (the vigilance task), as well as estimated their daily involuntary memory frequencies on a separate questionnaire. The results showed that ADHD range participants did not differ from non-ADHD range participants in reports of involuntary memories and spontaneous thoughts on the vigilance task, but ADHD range participants estimated higher daily involuntary memory frequencies than non-ADHD range participants on the questionnaire. Additionally, on the questionnaire, ADHD participants reported that their involuntary memories were less positive and more repetitive than non-ADHD participants. In Study 2, participants recorded their naturally occurring involuntary memories in a structured diary for 48 hours. The results showed that ADHD range participants had more involuntary memories than non-ADHD range participants, and they also reported that they experienced them as less positive.