Evidence that response inhibition is a primary deficit in ADHD
Abstract
The present study examined response inhibition in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 58) and controls (n = 84) using three go/no-go tests -- one with high working memory demand (cognitive), one with low working memory demand (simple), and one with rewards and response costs (motivation linked) in which emphasis was on reward for responding to "go" stimuli. Results of a repeated measure analysis of variance showed a significant effect of diagnosis for errors of commission for the simple, cognitive, and motivation-linked go/no-go tests, such that children with ADHD made significantly more errors than controls. Furthermore, a significant effect of test was noted across groups, such that both children in the ADHD and control groups performed worse on the cognitive and motivation-linked tests than they did on the simple test. The diagnosis by test interaction was not significant, suggesting that ADHD participants showed a similar degree of impairment to that of controls, regardless of the degree of working memory load or feedback provided in the test. In children with ADHD, response inhibition appears to be a primary deficit that is observed even when executive function demands of tasks are minimal. Although increasing working memory demand appears to impede response inhibition, this effect is similar in ADHD and typically developing children.
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In ADHD, impaired inhibitory control (higher commission errors) on the simple Go/No-go task was as strong as on the more cognitively demanding complex task.
“Examination of children with ADHD using these simple and complex Go/No-go tasks revealed that, compared with typically developing children (TD) children, impaired inhibitory control (i.e., higher commission error rate) on the simple Go/No-go task was as robust as that seen in the more complex task with higher cognitive demand (Wodka et al., 2007).”
From Increased intra-individual reaction time variability in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder across response inhibition tasks with different cognitive demands (2009) · cites this paper as Wodka et al., 2007
Evidence on inhibitory control deficits as an ADHD endophenotype is mixed: some studies report more commission errors in ADHD, while others find no group difference.
“In practice, however, the evidence supporting deficits in inhibitory control as an endophenotype of ADHD have been mixed; some studies find that children with ADHD show high rates of inhibitory failures (commission errors) compared to typically developing (TD) children (e.g., Johnson et al., 2007b; Wodka et al., 2007) while others find no differences in errors between groups (Schulz et al., 2004).”
From Increased intra-individual reaction time variability in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder across response inhibition tasks with different cognitive demands (2009) · cites this paper as Wodka et al., 2007
Inhibitory control impairment in ADHD appears to be a stable cognitive feature independent of other cognitive or executive domains.
“Impairment in inhibitory control, then, appears to be a stable cognitive feature associated with ADHD that is independent of functioning in other cognitive/executive domains.”
From Increased intra-individual reaction time variability in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder across response inhibition tasks with different cognitive demands (2009) · cites this paper as Wodka et al., 2007
Children with ADHD exhibit greater intra-individual variability in reaction time than typically developing children.
“One of the most consistent findings in children with ADHD is increased moment-to-moment variability in reaction time (RT).”
From Increased intra-individual reaction time variability in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder across response inhibition tasks with different cognitive demands (2009) · cites this paper as Wodka et al., 2007
Increased variability in ADHD, like impaired inhibitory control, appears to be a stable feature that is independent of the effect of other cognitive/executive domains.
“The pattern of findings, which is consistent with that seen for commission rate (Wodka et al., 2007), suggest that increased variability in ADHD, like impaired inhibitory control, appears to be a stable feature that is independent of the effect of other cognitive/executive domains.”
From Increased intra-individual reaction time variability in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder across response inhibition tasks with different cognitive demands (2009) · cites this paper as Wodka et al., 2007
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“Finally, given the evidence in ADHD for deficits in working memory independent of response inhibition ( Denckla, 1996 ; Heilman, 1991 ; Pennington & Ozonoff, 1996 ) we hypothesized that children with ADHD would show the greatest impairment compared with controls on the cognitive go/no-go task, reflecting a cumulative…”
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- Authors
- Wodka, E. L., Mark Mahone, E., Blankner, J. G., Gidley Larson, J. C., Fotedar, S., Denckla, M. B., & Mostofsky, S. H.
- Affiliations
- Kennedy Krieger Institute (US)
- b Kennedy Krieger Institute , Baltimore, MD, USA
- Corresponding author
- Mostofsky, Stewart H.
- Venue
- Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2007-05-14
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 345-356
- ISSN
- 0165-0475 (ISSN-L)
- 1380-3395
- 1744-411X
- OpenAlex
- W2022998764
- Cited by
- 264
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 5.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (K02 NS04485, R01NS047781, R01NS043480)
- National Center for Research Resources (M01 RR-00052, M01RR000052)
- 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
- response inhibition, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, go/no-go task, commission errors, working memory load, executive function, children, primary deficit
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Analysis of Variance, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Child, Cognition Disorders, Decision Making, Female, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological, Male, Motivation, Neuropsychological Tests, Reaction Time, Reward, Sex Factors
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