Asymmetrical Visual-Spatial Attention in College Students Diagnosed With ADD/ADHD

Abstract

Objective Research indicates that individuals with attention deficit disorder (ADD)/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may exhibit left-right asymmetric spatial attention, with deficient processing of stimuli in the left visual hemispace. However, there is controversy as to when this phenomenon can be observed. Background People with ADD/ADHD do not have obvious spatial bias when performing everyday tasks. Visual cancellation tasks have demonstrated behavioral asymmetry in ADD/ADHD, but results have not been consistent across studies. Children and older adults with ADD or ADHD have been assessed, but previous studies of college students with ADD/ADHD are not available. Method We tested 24 students with ADD or ADHD and 24 control students on a verbal and nonverbal cancellation task. Results The ADD/ADHD group made significantly more left-sided omission errors than controls on a letter cancellation task. This group difference was not observed for a shape cancellation task, however. Conclusions These results support possible left visual inattention in college students with ADD/ADHD. Studies of functional correlates of these attentional phenomena are needed.

A Systematic Review of Literatures on Factors Associated with Educational and Academic Performance in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

“…(Lineweaver et al, 2012) • The ADD/ADHD group made significantly more left-sided omission errors. (Jones et al, 2008) • Controlling for cognitive ability, ADHD participants were significantly different on all dependent measures related to time estimation abilities (p < 0.05). Controlling for IQ did not change the main outcomes.…”

“…Working memory refers to the ability to temporarily maintain and manipulate information necessary for achieving a certain goal (Gropper, Gotlieb, Kronitz, & Tannock, 2014). The largest group of studies (n = 9) reported on working memory or related to time estimation, explanatory style, or written expression (Sparks, Javorsky, & Philips, 2004;Gropper et al, 2014;Gropper & Tannock, 2009;Lineweaver et al, 2012;Jones, Craver-Lemley, & Barrett, 2008;Prevatt, Proctor, Baker, Garrett, & Yelland, 2011;Prins, Dovis, Ponsioen, ten, & van der Oord, 2011;Semrud-Clikeman & Harder, 2011;Shmulsky & Gobbo, 2007). ADHD students display significant weaknesses in the auditory-verbal working memory tasks compared to controls and were significantly worse in time estimation abilities.…”

Heightened Attention Demand of the Walking Cancellation Task and Its Relation to ADHD Tendency in Young Adults

“…Reports have described lower accuracy and increased time as the proportion of distractors increased (Geldmacher, 1996;Huang & Wang, 2009;Nakajima et al, 2013). Although cancellation tasks have been used as sensitive measures for detecting patients with visual neglect (e.g., Weintraub & Mesulam, 1988), recent studies have used these tasks as an assessment of attention ability in people with developmental disabilities such as ADHD (Jones, Craver-Lemley, & Barrett, 2008;Sandson, Bachna, & Morin, 2000). Reportedly, young adults with ADHD produce more errors than control subjects (Jones et al, 2008).…”

Repercussões do Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção/Hiperatividade (TDAH) na Experiência Universitária

“…Os cinco artigos teóricos excluídos da análise tratavam da prevalência de sintomas e do funcionamento neuropsicológico de discentes com o transtorno (Weyandt & DuPaul, 2006), das dificuldades acadêmicas associadas ao TDAH (DuPaul et al, 2009;Weyandt & DuPaul, 2008), das conquistas dos indivíduos com o transtorno ao longo da vida (Frazier, Youngstrom, Glutting & Watkins, 2007) e do funcionamento social, uso de substâncias psicoativas e tratamento de alunos com TDAH (Weyandt & DuPaul, 2012). Já os 33 estudos empíricos desconsiderados para análise investigavam a relação do transtorno com variáveis como adição à internet (Yen, Yen, Chen, Tang & Ko, 2009) (Jones, Craver-Lemley & Barrett, 2008). Estes trabalhos não foram analisados por não discutirem a implicação das correlações estabelecidas para a experiência universitária.…”