Cited by 52Attention Deficit Hyperactivity DisorderDevelopmental and Educational NeuropsychologyNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Which Components of Processing Speed are Affected in ADHD Subtypes?

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Kibby, Michelle Y., Vadnais, Sarah A., Jagger-Rickels, Audreyana C.·2019·Child Neuropsychology

Abstract

The term "processing speed" (PS) encompasses many components including perceptual, cognitive and output speed. Despite evidence for reduced PS in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), little is known about which component(s) is most impacted in ADHD, or how it may vary by subtypes. Participants included 151 children, ages 8-12 years, with ADHD Predominantly Inattentive Type, ADHD Combined Type and typically developing controls using DSM-IV criteria. All children completed four measures of processing speed: Symbol Search, Coding, Decision Speed, and simple reaction time. We found children with ADHD-PI and ADHD-C had slower perceptual and psychomotor/incidental learning speed than controls and that ADHD-PI had slower decision speed than controls. The subtypes did not differ on any of these measures. Mean reaction time was intact in ADHD. Hence, at a very basic output level, children with ADHD do not have impaired speed overall, but as task demands increase their processing speed becomes less efficient than controls'. Further, perceptual and psychomotor speed were related to inattention, and psychomotor speed/incidental learning was related to hyperactivity/impulsivity. Thus, inattention may contribute to less efficient performance and worse attention to detail on tasks with a higher perceptual and/or psychomotor load; whereas hyperactivity/impulsivity may affect psychomotor speed/incidental learning, possibly via greater inaccuracy and/or reduced learning efficiency. Decision speed was not related to either dimension. Results suggest that PS deficits are primarily linked to the inattention dimension of ADHD but not exclusively. Findings also suggest PS is not a singular process but rather a multifaceted system that is differentially impacted in ADHD.

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Crossref · 10.1080/09297049.2018.1556625

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  • Findings consistently show lower performance on the working memory index (WMI) and processing speed index (PSI) in ADHD.

    “Findings consistently show lower performance on the working memory index (WMI), which reflects the ability to actively manipulate information, and on the processing speed index (PSI), associated with the speed and automatization of cognitive processes [24, 25, 26].”

    From ADHD, Subtypes and Cognitive Performance: WISC-V as a Support Tool for Diagnostic Assessment (2026) · cites this paper as [25]

    The Methods > Measures section (page unavailable) describes working-memory and processing-speed weaknesses as prevalent in ADHD. The Results > Main Results section reports lower performance on several processing-speed tasks in children with ADHD, but neither section establishes consistently lower WMI and PSI scores specifically; performance also did not differ on simple reaction time. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  1. Sattler JM (2008). Assessment of children: Cognitive foundations (5th Ed.). San Diego, CA: Jerome M Sattler Publisher Inc.

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Authors
Kibby, M. Y., Vadnais, S. A., & Jagger-Rickels, A. C.
Affiliations
Southern Illinois University Carbondale (US)
Corresponding author
Kibby, Michelle Y.
Venue
Child Neuropsychology
Published
2018-12-18
Volume
25
Issue
7
Pages
964-979
ISSN
  • 0929-7049 (ISSN-L)
  • 1744-4136
OpenAlex
W2904249257
Cited by
51
References
63
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1
FWCI
1.38
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Child Neuropsychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • OpenSIUC (Southern Illinois University Carbondale) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R03 HD048752, R15 HD065627)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
processing speed, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD subtypes, predominantly inattentive type, combined type, perceptual speed, psychomotor speed, incidental learning, decision-making speed, reaction time, inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, children
MeSH terms
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Reaction Time

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