Neuropsychological Weaknesses in Adult ADHD; Cognitive Functions as Core Deficit and Roles of Them in Persistence to Adulthood

Abstract

Prior investigations have shown that individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have impaired neuropsychological functions. This study had two aims, first to investigate weakened cognitive functions in adult ADHD (aADHD), and second, to investigate difference between persisters (those having persistently ongoing ADHD diagnosis in adulthood), and remitters (those having ADHD diagnosis only in childhood and not in adulthood), in terms of cognitive deficits. We evaluated performance on a comprehensive neuropsychological battery in three groups including 34 persisters, 35 remitters, and 35 healthy control group (absence of childhood and adulthood ADHD diagnosis). Our findings showed that adults with ADHD have inefficient attention, interference control and set-shifting functions, which may be revealed on neuropsychological tests that require greater cognitive demand. Given the finding that interference control deficit exists across the lifespan in people with ADHD, we suggest that interference control-associated functional weakness may be a core deficit for ADHD. © 2012 The International Neuropsychological Society.