Determining the Effectiveness of Emotional Working Memory Training on Emotion Processing of Students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in school children, characterized by an inappropriate developmental pattern of attention deficit, impulsivity, or hyperactivity. This disorder has severely affected the lives of many children around the world. However, much research has been conducted on the etiology and treatment of this disorder. There is growing evidence that a problem particularly associated with ADHD is the inability of these children to process emotions. In recent years, many interventions, such as working memory training programs, have been proven effective in alleviating the symptoms of ADHD, promising favorable outcomes. While working memory has a limited capacity, by enhancing working memory in an emotional context, we can hope for more effective and changeable training. Considering this, researchers used a modified sample of traditional working memory training derived from the Schweizer et al. protocol (called emotional working memory training) to improve working memory. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of emotional working memory training on the executive functions of students with ADHD.

This research was quasi–experimental with a pretest–posttest design and a control group. The study's statistical population included elementary school students of Ardabil City, Iran, with ADHD, studying in the academic year of 2022–2023. Of whom, 30 qualified students were selected by the available sampling method. The inclusion criteria involved students with definite symptoms of ADHD from both genders, having an IQ between 95 and 120 based on the Wechsler Children Intelligent Scale, and studying at the same grade (both study groups from the sixth grade). The exclusion criteria were dissatisfaction with the study process, receiving simultaneous similar psychological intervention, and absence of more than three sessions from the intervention. The study was conducted in two groups of 15 students: experimental and control. The research tools were the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham Scale–Fourth Edition (SNAP–IV) and the Emotional Processing Scale (Baker et al., 2010). Emotional working memory training with the software was implemented during fifteen 30–40-minute sessions for the experimental group. The obtained data were analyzed at two levels of descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential (univariate covariance analysis) using SPSS26 software.

Univariate covariance analysis showed that emotional working memory training improved the emotional processing of students with ADHD (p=0.005). Emotional working memory training explains about 26% of the changes in emotional processing in the posttest.

Overall, this research showed that emotional working memory training effectively improved the emotional processing of students with ADHD, influencing the brain areas related to emotional regulation and improving the performance of neuro–cognitive–emotional circuits. These results have important implications for psychology. Emotional working memory training has a minimum cost for patients and needs the least training for practitioners and specialists. Thus, it is suggested that researchers and specialists, along with other treatment methods, improve the emotional processing of children with ADHD and also take help from this educational program as a complementary treatment.