Selective impairment of attentional set shifting in adults with ADHD

Abstract

BackgroundTask switch protocols are frequently used in the assessment of cognitive control, both in clinical and non-clinical populations. These protocols frequently confound task switch and attentional set shift. The current study investigated the ability of adult ADHD patients to shift attentional set in the context of switching tasks.MethodWe tested 38 adults with ADHD and 39 control adults with an extensive diagnostic battery and a task switch protocol without proactive interference. The experiment combined orthogonally task-switch vs. repetition, and attentional set shift vs. no shift. Each experimental stimulus had global and local features (Hierarchical/“Navon” stimuli), associated with corresponding attentional sets.ResultsADHD patients were slower than controls in task switch trials with a simultaneous shift of attention between global/local attentional sets. This also correlated significantly with diagnostic scales for ADHD symptoms. The patients had more variable reaction times, but when the attentional set was kept constant neither were they significantly slower nor showed higher task switch costs.ConclusionADHD is associated with a deficit in flexible deployment of attention to varying sources of stimulus information.

Adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, cognitive dysfunction and quality of life in high-dose use of benzodiazepine and Z-drug

“…Distinct profiles of attentional functioning were reported, with weak differences between ADHD subgroups, indicating gross disturbances of various attention functions in adult ADHD (Tucha et al 2008). A selective impairment of attentional set shifting was documented in adults with ADHD (Luna-Rodriguez et al 2018). Adult ADHD patients were found to display deficits in set shifting with medium-tolarge effect size difference vs. controls (Rohlf et al 2012).…”

Cannabinoid Modulation of Dopamine Release During Motivation, Periodic Reinforcement, Exploratory Behavior, Habit Formation, and Attention

“…Converging lines of evidence suggest that D1 signaling within the medial PFC in rodents and the homologous DLPFC in primates is central to attentional set formation and shifting in the ASST ( Dias et al, 1997 ; Ragozzino et al, 1999 ; Birrell and Brown, 2000 ; Stuss et al, 2000 ; Stefani et al, 2003 ; Tunbridge et al, 2004 ; Fletcher et al, 2005 ; Floresco et al, 2008 ; Nagano-Saito et al, 2008 ; Parsegian et al, 2011 ) while D2 and DAT signaling within the OFC and striatum support reversal learning, respectively ( Cools et al, 2009 ; Izquierdo et al, 2010 ; Cheng and Li, 2013 ). Indeed, cognitive flexibility training has been shown to enhance measures of prelimbic DA and therapeutic cognitive benefits in rats ( Chaby et al, 2019 ), while ADHD and schizophrenia patients, both strongly associated with dysregulated cortical DA function, display attentional dysfunctions particularly related to shifting attentional set similar to patients with frontal lobe damage ( Pantelis et al, 1999 ; Luna-Rodriguez et al, 2018 ). In terms of OFC DA, low but not high doses of methylphenidate remediate the impairment of both attentional-set formation and reversal learning in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) model of ADHD ( Cao et al, 2012 ), though this effect on reversal learning specifically is occluded by intra-OFC injections of the D2 antagonist haloperidol ( Cheng and Li, 2013 ).…”

Dissociable default-mode subnetworks subserve childhood attention and cognitive flexibility: evidence from deep learning and stereotaxic electroencephalography

“…The mechanisms subserving cognitive flexibility and shifts in attention remain poorly understood. Impairments in mental flexibility have been reported across the spectrum of attentional disorders (Dajani and Uddin, 2015; Genet and Siemer, 2011; Luna-Rodriguez et al, 2018; Roshani et al, 2020). In children, higher cognitive flexibility scores correlate with improved quality of life as well as future academic, social, and professional accomplishment (Dajani and Uddin, 2015).…”