ADHD and Stroop interference from age 9 to age 41 years: a meta-analysis of developmental effects

Abstract

The results from this analysis indicate that the Stroop interference effect is not larger in ADHD individuals than in age-matched controls. Further, we did not find evidence for differential maturation rates for persons with ADHD and the control groups. The Stroop interference effect appears to be immune to age, regardless of ADHD status.

Are children with ADHD predominantly inattentive and combined subtypes different in terms of aspects of everyday attention?

“…Interference control suppressing the dominant response of reading what you see (say 2 when you see 1) is essential for good performance on this task. Two recent meta-analyses revealed that Stroop interference deficits cannot be found consistently in ADHD [30,34]. The absence of a group effect on Opposite Worlds is in keeping with these studies.…”

“Turning down the heat”: Is poor performance of children with ADHD on tasks tapping “hot” emotional regulation caused by deficits in “cool” executive functions?

“…Poor interference control has been argued to be one of the core deficits of ADHD (Barkley, 1997) and many studies have indeed found support for an interference control deficit, although findings across studies are not fully consistent (for meta-analyses, see Lansbergen, Kenemans, & van Engeland, 2007;Mullane, Corkum, Klein, & McLaughlin, 2009;Schwartz & Verhaeghen, 2008;van Mourik, Oosterlaan, & Sergeant, 2005). The mixed findings may be explained by several factors, such as the task used, the calculation of the interference effect, and the heterogeneity of ADHD.…”

Emotion Regulation Mediates the Relationship between ADHD and Depressive Symptoms in Youth

“…(Homack & Riccio, 2004). Furthermore, despite these mixed findings, the Stroop task still remains the most frequently used task to examine response inhibition (Schwartz & Verhaeghen, 2008). Therefore, a computerized Stroop task was used to measure effortful control in the present study.…”

“…While the Stroop task is the most frequently used cognitive task of interference control and response inhibition in ADHD populations (Homack & Riccio, 2004;Schwartz & Verhaeghen, 2008), results have been mixed as to whether the Stroop task distinguishes between ADHD and non-ADHD participants (e.g., Boonstra et al, 2005;Scheres et al, 2004;Homack & Riccio, 2004;Schwartz & Verhaeghen, 2008). For example, in a meta-analysis of 25 studies of Stroop performance comparing individuals with and without ADHD, it was concluded that the Stroop interference effect was not greater for ADHD participants in comparison to non-ADHD participants (Schwartz & Verhaeghen, 2008). The authors suggest that perhaps the Stroop task does not adequately assess response inhibition and inference control in individuals with ADHD, and therefore, other cognitive tasks of response inhibition may be more sensitive to these effects (Schwartz & Verhaeghen, 2008).…”

“…For example, in a meta-analysis of 25 studies of Stroop performance comparing individuals with and without ADHD, it was concluded that the Stroop interference effect was not greater for ADHD participants in comparison to non-ADHD participants (Schwartz & Verhaeghen, 2008). The authors suggest that perhaps the Stroop task does not adequately assess response inhibition and inference control in individuals with ADHD, and therefore, other cognitive tasks of response inhibition may be more sensitive to these effects (Schwartz & Verhaeghen, 2008). Therefore, perhaps it is not that effortful control is not involved in the relationship between ADHD and ER, but rather that the Stroop task did not provide a valid or adequate measure of the construct of effortful control.…”