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Competing Core Processes in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Do Working Memory Deficiencies Underlie Behavioral Inhibition Deficits?

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Abstract

The current study examined competing predictions of the working memory and behavioral inhibition models of ADHD. Behavioral inhibition was measured using a conventional stop-signal task, and central executive, phonological, and visuospatial working memory components (Baddeley 2007) were assessed in 14 children with ADHD and 13 typically developing (TD) children. Bootstrapped mediation analyses revealed that the visuospatial working memory system and central executive both mediated the relationship between group membership (ADHD, TD) and stop-signal task performance. Conversely, stop-signal task performance mediated the relationship between group membership and central executive processes, but was unable to account for the phonological and visuospatial storage/rehearsal deficits consistently found in children with ADHD. Comparison of effect size estimates for both models suggested that working memory deficits may underlie impaired stop-signal task performance in children with ADHD. The current findings therefore challenge existing models of ADHD that describe behavioral inhibition as a core deficit of the disorder.

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Notes

  1. Lee et al. (2004) tested the divergent predictions of the working memory (Rapport et al. 2008b) and inhibition (Barkley 2006) models of ADHD, and found that working memory mediated the relationship between cognitive disinhibition and teacher-reported attention problems. The distinction between cognitive and behavioral inhibition, however, is well documented and suggests that these findings may only generalize to a select component of the inhibition model (Nigg 2001).

  2. One typically developing child had elevated parent ratings on three CBCL scales. K-SADS interview with parent and child revealed that these endorsements were highly specific to a recent parent-child interaction. CSI—Parent severity scores for this child were in the normal range.

  3. SSRT is unobservable and obtained by subtracting participants’ mean SSD from MRT (SSRT=MRT-SSD).

  4. All mediation analyses were also completed with age as a covariate. Only the simple models without covariates were reported, however, since the pattern of results did not change.

  5. All mediation analyses were also examined with the conventional method outlined by Baron and Kenney (1986). The overall pattern of results did not change. The VS composite score and CE fully mediated SSRT, while SSRT only partially mediated the VS composite score and CE.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, 116 North Murray, Stillwater, OK, 74078-3064, USA

    R. Matt Alderson & Kristen L. Hudec

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    Mark D. Rapport, Dustin E. Sarver & Michael J. Kofler

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  1. R. Matt Alderson
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  2. Mark D. Rapport
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Correspondence to R. Matt Alderson.

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Alderson, R.M., Rapport, M.D., Hudec, K.L. et al. Competing Core Processes in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Do Working Memory Deficiencies Underlie Behavioral Inhibition Deficits?. J Abnorm Child Psychol 38, 497–507 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-010-9387-0

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