Metacognition and executive processes in Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
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1
Center for Cognitive Science, UQAM, Montréal, Canada, Canada
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2
Psychology Department, UQTR, Canada
The existence of a neurobiological dysfunction implying regions of the prefrontal cortex related with behavioral inhibition combined with executive dysfunctions in ADHD lead to the hypothesis that children with ADHD may experience difficulties in metacognition and thus, that measures of EF, especially behavioral inhibition and metacognition should correlate positively. A conceptual link between behavioral inhibition, EF and metacognition appears plausible. Forty-two children with ADHD (mean age of 9.7 years) diagnosed by a child psychiatrist were assessed for metacomprehension. Intellectual performance was assessed with the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test. Metacomprehension measurement: Three stories taken from Markman’s 1979 procedure were used (Fish, Ants, Ice Cream). Each story contains an inconsistency and is read two times to insure a good understanding and than the subject is asked to answer a series of probe questions (for e.g., What do you think?, Do you have any questions? etc.). Inhibition and Executive functions (EF): Response inhibition is measured with Stroop (Color-Word Interference Test) (D-KEFS). Two sustained attention subtests (Score! and Walk Don’t Walk), three selective attention subtests (Sky Search, Sky Search time-per-target, Attention) and one dual task measure (Sky Search DT) were also administred (TEA-CH). Contrary to expectations, no difference was found between the children with ADHD and children from the general population matched for age on the metacomprehension task. At the considered ages (8.6 and 10.8 years on average), children with ADHD have already reach the same metacognitive level as the typical children. Capacities to auto-evaluate the comprehension of a verbal story seem similar between children with or without ADHD. Significant correlations between age and metacomprehension have been found. This is congruent with the metacognition literature which indicates a developmental trend for this ability. As expected, a negative link between symptoms of ADHD and metacognitive abilities was found. Two out of the three stories used to investigate metacomprehension were found to correlate with ADHD measurement by the Du Paul test. Moreover, the global score for the three stories marginally correlate (r= -0.31, p= 0.06) with symptoms of ADHD. This shows that severe symptoms may impede metacognitive skills. Since, the Du Paul contains a description of ADHD mostly in term of behavior (for e.g. “often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork” or “is on the go or act as if driven by a motor”) it means that this type of behavior may have an impact on reflexive abilities such as metacognition. Correlations between metacomprehension and inhibition were also expected. This was indeed the case with the ADHD group, mostly for the TEA_CH_Walk don’t Walk (dependent variable is the number of correct items) and the Stroop-interference (dependent variable in seconds). A longer response time on the Stroop is linked with low scores on metacomprehension (metacomprehension scores interpretation has been reversed, so that a high score is interpreted as a good performance and a low score as a bad one). The positive correlation between Walk don’t walk and metacomprehension indicates a better inhibition leads to a better metacomprehension. Both types of inhibition, cognitive (Stroop) and behavioural (WdW), are related to metacognition. The correlation between metacognition and inhibition is even stronger for the behavioural case (r= 0.54).
Conference:
10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Türkiye, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Consciousness
Citation:
Poissant
H,
Joyal
C and
Carbonneau
H
(2008). Metacognition and executive processes in Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Conference Abstract:
10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience.
doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.183
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Received:
08 Dec 2008;
Published Online:
08 Dec 2008.
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Correspondence:
Helene Poissant, Center for Cognitive Science, UQAM, Montréal, Canada, Montréal, Canada, poissant.helene@uqam.ca