The Impact of ADHD on Prospective Memory Performance in Children

Transcription

1 The Impact of ADHD on Prospective Memory Performance in Children Karley- Dale Talbot Supervised by Drs. Kimberly Kerns and Ulrich Mueller Department of Psychology University of Victoria

2 the ability to act upon an intention in the future or remembering to remember 2 main types Time- based (TBPM) Event- based (EBPM)

3 Little research exploring the development of PM (especially time- based) Research shows age effects Young < Old on TBPM tasks (Kerns, 2000; Kerns & Price, 2001; Mackinlay et al., 2009; Rendell et al., 2010) Preschoolers are capable of performing TBPM (Rendell et al., 2010) Underlying suggestion: PM depends on the same cognitive resources as executive functions (EFs), 2009; Wang et al., 2008)

4 EFs rely on the prefrontal cortex/frontal lobes i.e. inhibitory control, planning, problem solving, time monitoring, working memory (WM) PM performance is found to relate to specific EFs (Kerns, 2000) WM and Response Inhibition Independent of age

5 Children with ADHD show deficits in: EF including deficits in time estimation (TE) (Barkley, 2001; McInerney & Kerns, 2003) TBPM (Kerns & Price, 2001; Zinke et al.) 2010) But, there is: No information on EBPM No information on whether TE is related to TBPM

6 Objectives To determine if TE ability accounts for differences in TBPM performance in children with ADHD relative to controls To replicate deficits in TBPM and TE in children with ADHD To determine if children with ADHD have deficits in EBPM To investigate the ecological validity of lab- based PM tasks

7 In 4 parts: EBPM task: The Super Little Fisherman TBPM task: CyberCruiser- II TE task: The Lightbulb Game Adapted Prospective Retrospective Memory Questionnaire for Children (PRMQC)

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10 A brief (16- item) parent- report questionnaire asking the frequency of typical PM and retrospective memory failures Example: Does your child fail to mention or give you something that he/she was asked to pass on?

11 Table 1. Means and Standard Deviations for Demographic, Time and Event- based Prospective Measures, Time Reproduction, and PRMQC. (Note. * p<.05) Controls ADHD N IQ (12.73) (13.47) Percent Male* Age (1.76) (1.52) EVENT- BASED PM cues* 2.67 (.82) 2.20 (1.08) EVENT- BASED PM fish (8.34) (10.69) TIME- BASED PM Out of gas* 1.00 (0.90) 1.51 (1.10) TIME- BASED PM Checks (104.37) (28.95) TIME- BASED PM Score (311.71) (423.98) Time Estimation TR task* (43.57) (64.73) PRMQC Score* 18.33(4.60) (4.39)

12 Age Effects Older children did better on the TBPM and TE tasks, but not on the EBPM task. Time- and Event- Based PM EBPM and TBPM did not appear related Children with ADHD had more difficulty on both the EB and TB PM tasks than the controls. Both groups performed similarly on the ongoing task (i.e. catching fish and avoiding space objects)

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14 TE and Time- Based PM Children with ADHD had made more errors on the TE task than controls TE ability did not account for differences in time- based PM performance Parent Reported PM (PRMQC) & Lab Tasks Children with ADHD had higher PRMQC scores (indicating more PM problems) than controls even after taking IQ and parent- rated inattention scores into account PRMQC scores were related to both the EB and TB PM lab tasks

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16 Children with ADHD exhibit deficits in PM (time- and event- based) Deficits in time- based PM performance were not related to the child s ability to estimate and reproduce the passage of time (TE) Event- and time- based PM seem to be distinct constructs relying on different mechanisms for their successful performance Parent- reported PM behaviour was related to performance on lab measures of PM

17 Generally children tend to get better at remembering to remembering as they age Be mindful of this when asking children to remember things Children with ADHD are more likely to lose track of time, especially when they are engaged in exciting tasks (i.e. video games) View of timers and warnings may help ease anxiety about upcoming transitions Children with ADHD are more likely to forget to follow through with intentions For example: they might forget to hand in their homework despite having done it Providing multiple verbal and visual cues may facilitate this The more severe the ADHD symptoms, the more likely they will forget to do things Be mindful of this when forming expectations of your child or student

18 Thank you for your attention! A special thank you to Drs. Kerns and Mueller and the Centre for Early Childhood Research & Policy