Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology

ADHD: perspective from impulse

Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology 2013; 23: Supplement S32-S33
Keywords : ADHD, impulse
Read: 407 Published: 21 March 2021

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by impulsive behavior, increased behavioral problems, social adaptation problems. Impulsivity, broadly defined as action without foresight, is a component of numerous psychiatric illnesses. Both the attentional and impulse control deficits can be illustrated by ADHD patients performance of the CPT. ADHD subjects make more errors of omission indicative of poor attentional ability. ADHD subjects have slower and more variable reaction times, and make more errors of omission indicative of poor attentional ability and similarly fail to cancel their “ go ” response on the “ no-go ” trials in go/no-go task. Furthermore, it has also been reported that ADHD children make more errors of commission on a choice reaction time version of the task (i.e. choose the wrong response on the go trials), and omit more trials (i.e. do not respond at all). ADHD patients also choose more impulsively in delay-discounting tasks, preferring the smaller but more immediate rewards to the larger more delayed rewards. However, if the selection of a smaller immediate reward does not reduce the total length of the time the subject spends engaged in the experimental task, it has been reported that ADHD patients are able to wait for rewards. It has been suggested that this pattern of impulsive choice is indicative of enhanced motivation to escape or avoid delay, and that the inattentive, overactive and impulsive behaviors in which ADHD patients engage are functional expressions of delay-aversion. İnhibition controlled the weakness and increased impulsive choices are core symptoms of ADHD .
 

EISSN 2475-0581