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Regulation of emotion in ADHD: can children with ADHD override the natural tendency to approach positive and avoid negative pictures?

  • Psychiatry and Preclinical Psychiatric Studies - Original Article
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Abstract

Studies have demonstrated inefficient use of antecedent-focused emotion regulation strategies in children with ADHD attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In the current study we tested for the first time if ADHD is also associated with difficulties in response-focused strategies by measuring the ability to override action tendencies induced by emotional information. Performance data on a computer-based approach-avoidance paradigm of 28 children with ADHD and 38 typically developing children between 8 and 15 years of age were analyzed, by comparing a congruent condition in which they were instructed to approach positive and avoid negative pictures and an incongruent condition where they had to override these automatic reactions and approach negative and avoid positive pictures. Children also rated the valence and salience of the pictures. Children with ADHD and typically developing children rated the emotional valence of the pictures appropriately and similarly, while positive pictures were rated as more arousing by children with ADHD. Solid congruency effects were found indicating that the task measured response-focused emotion regulation; however groups did not differ in this respect. Our findings do not support a deficit in emotion regulation in ADHD in terms of the ability to override natural tendencies to approach positive and avoid negative pictures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Valerie Van Cauwenberge, Edmund J. S. Sonuga-Barke & Jan R. Wiersema

  2. School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Shackleton Building (B44), Highfield Campus, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

    Edmund J. S. Sonuga-Barke

  3. Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 35 Blok d-Bus 7001, 3000, Louvain, Belgium

    Karel Hoppenbrouwers

  4. Department of Parenting and Special Education, KU Leuven, Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 32-Bus 3765, 3000, Louvain, Belgium

    Karla Van Leeuwen

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  1. Valerie Van Cauwenberge
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  2. Edmund J. S. Sonuga-Barke
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  3. Karel Hoppenbrouwers
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  5. Jan R. Wiersema
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Correspondence to Valerie Van Cauwenberge.

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Conflict of interest

Professor Sonuga-Barke declares the following competing interests: fees for speaking, consultancy, research funding and conference support from Shire Pharma; speaker fees from Janssen Cilag, Consultancy from Neurotech solutions, Aarhus University, Copenhagen University and Berhanderling, Skolerne, Copenhagen, KU Leuven; book royalties from OUP and Jessica Kingsley.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Van Cauwenberge, V., Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S., Hoppenbrouwers, K. et al. Regulation of emotion in ADHD: can children with ADHD override the natural tendency to approach positive and avoid negative pictures?. J Neural Transm 124, 397–406 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-016-1631-5

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