Emotion-Cognition Interactions in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Increased Early Attention Capture and Weakened Attentional Control in Emotional Contexts

Developing a therapeutic app based on the emotional Stroop task for objective discovery of daily life issues for people with ADHD

Pinpointing the most urgent problem to start treatment on in therapy for people with ADHD is a subjective and time-consuming process. To improve this process, we designed a proof-of-concept for an application that can identify daily life issues that cause negative mental load. Through several modified emotional Stroop-tasks, we show that people with ADHD respond slower to negative emotions and daily life issues related to ADHD, compared to neurotypicals. Negative emotions and social issues were especially prevalent in the ADHD participants. The application highlighted two to five issues per participant. This could indicate that these topics cause the highest mental load in the participant, and need attention first from a therapist. Using this application in a therapeutic context could deliver a more objective, personalized, traceable and efficient therapy for daily-life issues in ADHD.

The Daydream Spectrum: The Role of Emotional Dysregulation, Internalized Stigma and Self-Esteem in Maladaptive Daydreaming Among Adults With ADHD, ASD, and Double Diagnosis

OBJECTIVE

Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is characterized by vivid, excessive fantasy activity that becomes prioritized over other activities and may result in avoidant coping strategies. Little is known about the relationship between MD and internalized stigma in the neurodivergent sample. The current study aimed to examine emotional dysregulation, escapism and self-perception (self-esteem and internalized stigma) as potential determinants of MD in three groups: adults on the autism spectrum, with ADHD, and both diagnoses ("AuDHD"), including their neurodivergent symptoms (autistic traits, empathizing, ADHD symptoms).

METHODS

A sample of 293 persons (139 with ADHD, 74 on the autism spectrum, and 80 with both diagnoses) completed self-report scales concerning ADHD symptoms, autism spectrum symptoms, empathizing, self-esteem, daydreaming as escapism, emotional dysregulation, maladaptive daydreaming, and internalized stigma. A correlation analysis was implemented. Additionally, a group comparison and quantile regression for the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile of maladaptive daydreaming in the three groups were executed.

RESULTS

The results showed that internalized stigma, emotional dysregulation, escapism, and self-esteem have significant associations with MD in the neurodiverse sample. The ADHD group achieved the lowest scores in emotional dysregulation, discrimination experience, and social withdrawal. The groups did not vary in MD rates, stereotype endorsement, stigma resistance, nonacceptance of emotional responses, and impulse control difficulties. The AuDHD group achieved higher results than the ASD group only in the ADHD symptoms. Quantile regression revealed differences in the predictors of maladaptive daydreaming in the three groups. ADHD symptoms and self-suppression escapism were significant predictors for the higher levels of MD in persons with singular autism or ADHD diagnosis.

CONCLUSION

The results showed no differences in MD rates, although there were significant variations in predictive features among the three samples. The role of internalized stigma and self-esteem was highlighted in the results as significant associates of MD prevalence. These outcomes expand the current knowledge in the context of maladaptive daydreaming, internalized stigma, self-esteem and emotional dysregulation in a neurodiverse sample and allow for proposing clinical applications and further research directions.

Altered Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Functioning During Emotional Interference Resistance Is Associated With Affect Lability in Adults With Persisting Symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder From Childhood

BACKGROUND

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention and/or impulsivity/hyperactivity. ADHD, especially when persisting into adulthood, often includes emotional dysregulation, such as affect lability; however, the neural correlates of emotionality in adults with heterogeneous ADHD symptom persistence remain unclear.

METHODS

The present study sought to determine shared and distinct functional neuroanatomical profiles of neural circuitry during emotional interference resistance using the emotional face n-back task in adult participants with persisting (n = 47), desisting (n = 93), or no (n = 42) childhood ADHD symptoms while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging.

RESULTS

Participants without any lifetime ADHD diagnosis performed significantly better (faster and more accurately) than participants with ADHD diagnoses on trials with high cognitive loads (2-back) that included task-irrelevant emotional distractors, tapping into executive functioning and emotion regulatory processes. In participants with persisting ADHD symptoms, more severe emotional symptoms were related to worse task performance. Heightened dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation was associated with more accurate and faster performance on 2-back emotional faces trials, respectively. Reduced activation was associated with greater affect lability in adults with persisting ADHD, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation mediated the relationship between affect lability and task accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that alterations in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex function associated with greater interference in cognitive processes from emotion could represent a marker of risk for problems with emotional dysregulation in individuals with persisting ADHD and thus represent a potential therapeutic target for those with greater emotional symptoms of ADHD.

Similarities and differences of neuropsychological functions, metacognitive abilities and resilience in Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome (CDS) and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

It was aimed to evaluate the relationships between neuropsychological functions, self-reported metacognitive abilities, and resilience levels among children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and those with Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome (CDS) compared to healthy controls. This cross-sectional, case-control study was consisted of 36 children with CDS only, 36 with ADHD only, 33 with CDS and ADHD and 39 control children were enrolled for a total sample of 144 children. The intellectual and neuropsychological functioning of the participating children was evaluated using the WISC-IV. Metacognitive Awareness Inventory for Children(MAI-C), Emotional Resilience Scale(ERS), and Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale(RCADS) were used. In both Processing Speed Index (PSI) and Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI), children with CDS had significantly lower scores compared to those with ADHD, while those with ADHD and ADHD + CDS were similar to each other and controls. Children with CDS had greater metacognitive awareness than those with ADHD only and those with ADHD + CDS, whereas controls had the greatest level of metacognitive awareness. The emotional sensitivity of children with CDS was similar to that of children with ADHD + CDS and significantly greater than that of children with ADHD and controls, while control children had the lowest levels. The results of this study suggest that metacognitive abilities and emotional resilience may be targeted in rehabilitation/therapy of children with CDS ± ADHD and that interventions targeting processing speed and perceptual reasoning in younger children with CDS symptoms may be beneficial.

The Relationship Between Emotion Dysregulation and Error Monitoring in Adolescents with ADHD

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is emblematic of the limitations of existing diagnostic categories. One potential solution, consistent with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative, is to interrogate psychological mechanisms at the behavioral and physiological level together to try and identify meaningful subgroups within existing categories. Such approaches provide a way to revise diagnostic boundaries and clarify individual variation in mechanisms. Here, we illustrate this approach to help resolve heterogeneity in ADHD using a combination of behaviorally-rated temperament measures from the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire; cognitive performance on three difference conditions of an emotional go/no-go task; and electroencephalogram (EEG)-measured variation in multiple stages of error processing, including the error-related negativity (ERN) and positivity (Pe). In a large (N = 342), well-characterized sample of adolescents with ADHD, latent profile analysis identified two ADHD temperament subgroups: 1) emotionally regulated and 2) emotionally dysregulated (with high negative affect). Cognitive and EEG assessment in a subset of 272 adolescents (nADHD = 151) found that the emotionally dysregulated group showed distinct patterns of change in early neural response to errors (ERN) across emotional task conditions as compared to emotionally-regulated ADHD adolescents and typically-developing controls. Both ADHD groups showed blunted later response to errors (Pe) that was stable across emotional task conditions. Overall, neural response patterns identified important differences in how trait and state emotion interact to affect cognitive processing. Results highlight important temperament variation within ADHD that helps clarify its relationship to the ERN, one of the most prominent putative neural biomarkers for psychopathology.

Everyday Cognitive Control and Emotion Dysregulation in Young Adults With and Without ADHD: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the contribution of the temporal dynamics of two cognitive control mechanisms-inhibitory control (IC) and working memory (WM)-to emotion dysregulation (ED) in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in ecological settings.

METHOD

One hundred twenty-two participants (age 18-33 years; 60 with ADHD) reported their ED at baseline, followed by a 5-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study, with short behavioral IC and WM tasks performed five times/day.

RESULTS

For IC, mean and lability of performance over EMA significantly accounted for differences in ED but not baseline performance. For WM, both baseline and mean of EMA, but not EMA lability, accounted for ED variance. ADHD status further contributed to the explained variance of ED.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results support the contribution of dynamic IC processes to ED in ADHD, in addition to WM performance level, and highlight the importance of dynamic and ecological investigation of different cognitive control components.

Mexican validation of the International Affective Digitized Sounds second edition (IADS-2) and additional sounds

Affective stimuli have been extensively used in emotion research for a better understanding of emotion regulation. Sound ratings, specifically non-verbal sounds, are biased by demographic indicators such as sex and nationality. Therefore, it is crucial to characterize sounds prior to their use in emotion research. This study aims to validate the IADS-2 database and additional sounds in a sample from the Mexican population. Three hundred twenty-nine participants born and raised in Mexico remotely listened to 174 sounds in monophonic format. They rated sounds according to the valence-arousal-dominance model using the Self-Assessment Manikin test. Results positively correlated to those of previous studies. Sex differences were observed only in dominance between female and male groups, contrary to the results from Portuguese, American and Japanese validations. Geographic region analysis demonstrated differences in arousal, indicating the need for additional research on occident and south regions. Furthermore, when conducting affective research, headphones and audio quality should be considered, primarily to reduce variability due to audio-related aspects, and to avoid changes in emotional experience. Finally, this study supports the feasibility of remote affective sound experiments over the internet as reported in previous research.

The influence of pride emotion on executive function: Evidence from ERP

BACKGROUND

The current study examined the influence of positive "basic" emotions on executive function; there is limited evidence about the influence of positive "self-conscious"emotions, such as pride, on executive functions processes.

METHODS

Pride is a status-related self-conscious emotion and the present research explored the influence of pride on the subcomponents of executive function, using three experiments that adopted the digit size-parity switching, N-back, and dual choice oddball paradigms.

RESULTS

The behavioral results suggested that cognitive load and behavior inhibition effects in the pride emotion were significantly higher than the neutral emotion. The ERP results showed that the pride emotion elicited smaller P3 difference wave for the switching task and dual choice oddball task. In the N-back task, the pride emotion elicited larger N1 amplitude and smaller P2 difference wave compared to the neutral emotion. A comparison among results from the three experiments indicated that pride emotion restrains all subcomponents of executive function, though with different manifestations of the impact.

CONCLUSION

Experiencing positive emotions is typically viewed as desirable and adaptive in educational settings; however, pride as a unique positive emotion may damage people's cognitive performance, indicating that we need to be cautious when performing cognitive operations in a pride mood.

Task-general efficiency of evidence accumulation as a computationally-defined neurocognitive trait: Implications for clinical neuroscience

Quantifying individual differences in higher-order cognitive functions is a foundational area of cognitive science that also has profound implications for research on psychopathology. For the last two decades, the dominant approach in these fields has been to attempt to fractionate higher-order functions into hypothesized components (e.g., "inhibition", "updating") through a combination of experimental manipulation and factor analysis. However, the putative constructs obtained through this paradigm have recently been met with substantial criticism on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Concurrently, an alternative approach has emerged focusing on parameters of formal computational models of cognition that have been developed in mathematical psychology. These models posit biologically plausible and experimentally validated explanations of the data-generating process for cognitive tasks, allowing them to be used to measure the latent mechanisms that underlie performance. One of the primary insights provided by recent applications of such models is that individual and clinical differences in performance on a wide variety of cognitive tasks, ranging from simple choice tasks to complex executive paradigms, are largely driven by efficiency of evidence accumulation (EEA), a computational mechanism defined by sequential sampling models. This review assembles evidence for the hypothesis that EEA is a central individual difference dimension that explains neurocognitive deficits in multiple clinical disorders and identifies ways in which in this insight can advance clinical neuroscience research. We propose that recognition of EEA as a major driver of neurocognitive differences will allow the field to make clearer inferences about cognitive abnormalities in psychopathology and their links to neurobiology.