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Attentional networks, vigilance, and distraction as a function of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms in an adult community sample
Author(s) -
CollMartín Tao,
CarreteroDios Hugo,
Lupiáñez Juan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/bjop.12513
Subject(s) - vigilance (psychology) , distraction , psychology , arousal , neurocognitive , attention network , executive functions , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder , developmental psychology , continuous performance task , cognition , cognitive psychology , audiology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , computer science
Attentional difficulties are a core axis in attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, establishing a consistent and detailed pattern of these neurocognitive alterations has not been an easy endeavour. Based on a dimensional approach to ADHD, the present study aims at comprehensively characterizing three key attentional domains: the three attentional networks (alerting, orienting, and executive attention), two components of vigilance (executive and arousal vigilance), and distraction. To do so, we modified a single, fine‐grained task (the ANTI‐Vea) by adding irrelevant distractors. One hundred and twenty undergraduates completed three self‐reports of ADHD symptoms in childhood and adulthood and performed the ANTI‐Vea. Despite the low reliability of some ANTI‐Vea indexes, the task worked successfully. While ADHD symptoms in childhood were related to alerting network and arousal vigilance, symptoms in adulthood were linked to executive vigilance. No association between ADHD symptom severity and executive attention and distraction was found. In general, our hypotheses about the relationships between ADHD symptoms and attentional processes were partially supported. We discuss our findings according to ADHD theories and attention measurement.