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Cited by 8Attention Deficit Hyperactivity DisorderVisual Attention and Saliency DetectionNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Lingering on distraction: Examining distractor rejection in adults with ADHD

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Zhang, Han, Abagis, Tessa R., Steeby, Clara J., Jonides, John·2024·Visual Cognition
DOI 10.1080/13506285.2024.2328379PMC PMC12330872

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Abstract

Effective visual search relies on reactively disengaging from distractors when the features of the distractors are unpredictable. Does this ability differ between adults with and without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)? Participants (36 with ADHD, 46 non-ADHD) completed the additional-singleton task, in which they searched for a unique shape while a uniquely coloured distractor unpredictably appeared on half of the trials. The distractor delayed manual response times in both groups, with no significant group difference. Both groups also demonstrated similar oculomotor capture effects, as indicated by the landing position of initial fixations. However, when initial fixations did land on the distractor, participants with ADHD tended to "linger" on the distractor with additional fixations and longer duration before disengaging from it, compared to those without ADHD. These results suggest that ADHD is associated with deficits in reactively disengaging from distractions rather than deficits in avoiding being captured in the first place.

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  • ADHD is associated with intact habitual processing but delayed goal-directed processing in a different context (visual search).

    “These results suggest that ADHD is associated with intact habitual processing but delayed goal-directed processing in a different context (visual search).”

    From Delayed goal-directed processing underlies inhibitory control challenges in adult ADHD (2026) · cites this paper as [42]

    The Abstract reports similar initial distractor capture in adults with and without ADHD, but longer disengagement among those with ADHD; it also describes disengagement as goal-driven. It does not establish that habitual processing is intact: the process it measured at initial capture is described as salience-driven, not habitual. The finding is also limited to adults in this visual-search task. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Zhang et al. (2024) found that ADHD and neurotypical individuals share similar levels of initial capture and initial fixation positions, but ADHD participants had more subsequent fixations and lingering fixations on distractor stimuli before disengaging in favor of the task goal.

    “In the eye-tracking literature, Zhang et al. (2024) showcased that ADHD and neurotypical individuals share similar levels of initial capture and initial fixation positions, but ADHD participants had more subsequent fixations and lingering fixations on distractor stimuli before disengaging in favor of the task goal42.”

    From Delayed goal-directed processing underlies inhibitory control challenges in adult ADHD (2026) · cites this paper as [42]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Zhang, H., Abagis, T. R., Steeby, C. J., & Jonides, J.
Affiliations
University of Michigan (US)
Corresponding author
Zhang, Han
ORCID
Venue
Visual Cognition
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2024-08-23
Volume
32
Issue
9-10
Pages
910-924
ISSN
  • 1350-6285 (ISSN-L)
  • 1464-0716
DOI
10.1080/13506285.2024.2328379
PMC
PMC12330872
OpenAlex
W4401820033
Cited by
8
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2
FWCI
2.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Visual Cognition (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
  • PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (1658268)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R21MH129909)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, distractor rejection, visual search, oculomotor capture, fixational eye movements, distractibility

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