Cross-modal conflict deficit in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Heng Zhou; Shizhong Cai; Xianghui Zhang; Yan Chen; Aijun Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105917

Cross-modal conflict deficit in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

J Exp Child Psychol. 2024 Jul:243:105917. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105917. Epub 2024 Apr 4.

Authors

Heng Zhou¹, Shizhong Cai², Xianghui Zhang³, Yan Chen⁴, Aijun Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Research Center for Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China; Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, China.
² Department of Child and Adolescent Healthcare, Children's Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215025, China.
³ Department of Psychology, Research Center for Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
⁴ Department of Child and Adolescent Healthcare, Children's Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215025, China. Electronic address: chenyan0823@suda.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Psychology, Research Center for Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China. Electronic address: ajwang@suda.edu.cn.

PMID: 38579588
DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105917

Abstract

The difference between the audiovisual incongruent condition and the audiovisual congruent condition is known as cross-modal conflict, which is an important behavioral index to measure the conflict control function. Previous studies have found conflict control deficits in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but it is not clear whether and how cross-modal conflict occurs in children with ADHD at different processing levels. The current study adopted the cross-modal matching paradigm to recruit 25 children with ADHD (19 boys and 6 girls) and 24 TD children (17 boys and 7 girls), aiming to investigate the cross-modal conflict effect at the perception and response levels of children with ADHD. The results showed that both groups of children showed significant cross-modal conflict, and there was no significant difference between the ADHD and TD groups in the number of error trials and mean response time. However, the cross-modal conflict effect caused by auditory distractors was different between the ADHD and TD groups; the TD group had stronger auditory conflict at the response level, whereas the ADHD group had weaker auditory conflict. This indicates that the ADHD group had a deficit of auditory conflict at the response level.

Keywords: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); Cross-modal conflict; Perception level; Response level.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Attention
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity* / psychology
Auditory Perception*
Child
Conflict, Psychological*
Female
Humans
Male
Photic Stimulation
Reaction Time
Visual Perception / physiology