The Domains of Impaired Inhibitory Control in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Theoretical models of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have suggested that inhibitory control (IC) is a primary deficit in children with ADHD. Inhibition is considered a multidimensional construct with various aspects. Multiple domains of IC are attentional inhibition(AI), response inhibition(RI), and motor inhibition(MI). Although the literature supports that inhibitory deficiencies are the fundamental problem underlying ADHD, it seems that children with ADHD may have deficits with certain domains of inhibition but not with other domains. The purpose of the present study is a comparison of multiple domains of IC in children with and without ADHD. A sample of 80 children ages 6- 12 (46 boys) with ADHD (n=40) and without ADHD (n=40) symptoms participated in the study. Stroop Task (ST), Go/No-Go Task (GNGT), and Circle Tracing Task (CTT) respectively for evaluation of AI, RI and MI were performed by the participants. It was observed that children with ADHD showed worse performance in GNGT and CTT while the performance of children with and without ADHD symptoms did not differ in ST. Children with ADHD symptoms comparing typically developing (TD) children exhibited deficits with certain forms of inhibition. they had impaired performance on prepotent response inhibition and stopping ongoing response, however, no deficit was found in interference control.