P.7.b.012 A scale for the assessment of hyperfocusing in attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder

Hyperfocus: the forgotten frontier of attention

“…An additional result is a paper that has developed a new questionnaire to assess hyperfocus experiences (Hupfeld, Abagis, & Shah, 2019). We also found 1 study that did not appear in our searches, but was cited in a couple of the papers cited above (Ozel-Kizil, 2013). This naturally leads to a simple question: why is there limited explicit research on an ostensibly common human cognitive and perceptual experience?…”

“…A PubMed search for the same terms in the title or abstract returned 19 results. Of these, 7 are empirical studies explicitly focused on assessing cognitive and neural states associated with hyperfocus (in ADHD: Sklar, 2013;Ozel-Kizil et al, 2013, 2016in schizophrenia: Luck et al, 2014;Sawaki et al, 2017;Kreither et al, 2017;Hahn et al, 2016;Gray et al, 2014). An additional result is a paper that has developed a new questionnaire to assess hyperfocus experiences (Hupfeld, Abagis, & Shah, 2019).…”

Hyperfocusing as a dimension of adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

“…For the assessment of the discriminant validity, the HS scores of the adults with higher and lower WURS (≥ or < cut-off score of 36) scores as well as with mild, moderate and severe levels according to the ADHD-A scale were compared. Both comparisons revealed significant results (for higher vs lower WURS scores t = 3.26, p = 0.001; for mild, moderate and high ADHD-A levels, F = 13.53, p < 0.001) (Ozel-Kizil et al, 2013). …”

“…This scale was developed by Ozel-Kizil et al (2013) in order to evaluate the severity of hyperfocusing symptoms. A group of professionals including psychiatrists and clinical psychologists who were experienced in neuropsychology transformed the knowledge about hyperfocusing in ADHD (the most common complaints about hyperfocusing) into items after interviewing with adult ADHD patients.…”

“…Previously, Ozel-Kizil et al (2013) developed a questionnaire (Hyperfocusing Scale-HS-Appendix A) for the assessment of the severity of hyperfocusing symptoms in a non-clinical sample consisting of university students. They reported that hyperfocusing which was evaluated by the HS had high correlations with other ADHD symptoms like inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.…”