Neuropsychological Functioning in Adults With ADHD and Adults With Other Psychiatric Disorders: The Issue of Specificity
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate how well neuropsychological measures can discriminate between adults with ADHD and those with other psychiatric disorders. METHOD: Adults with ADHD and a clinical control group ( n = 110) were included. Neuropsychological functioning was investigated using measures of inhibition, working memory, set shifting, planning, fluency, reaction-time variability, and delay aversion. RESULTS: Adults with ADHD performed more poorly compared with clinical controls with regard to all constructs. The effects of verbal memory, inhibition, set shifting, fluency, and delay aversion remained significant when controlling for IQ. However, when controlling for basic cognitive functions, only the effects of inhibition, fluency, and delay aversion were significant. Sensitivity ranged between 64% and 75%, and specificity between 66% and 81%. CONCLUSION: Neuropsychological tests have a relatively poor ability to discriminate between adults with ADHD and clinical controls, but they may be used to identify individuals at particularly high risk for poor daily functioning.
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Neuropsychological impairments are not specific to ADHD.
“Moreover, neuropsychological impairments are not specific to this disorder.”
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Profiles of executive function weaknesses are almost identical between ADHD and non-ADHD clinical groups.
“the profiles of EF weaknesses were almost identical between ADHD and non-ADHD clinical groups”
From ADHD in Adulthood: Clinical Presentation, Comorbidities, and Treatment Perspectives (2025) · cites this paper as [100]
Neuropsychological tests show limited power to distinguish ADHD from other psychiatric referrals.
“neuropsychological tests showed limited power to distinguish ADHD from other psychiatric referrals [99,100,101,102]”
From ADHD in Adulthood: Clinical Presentation, Comorbidities, and Treatment Perspectives (2025) · cites this paper as [100]
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- Authors
- Holst, Y., & Thorell, L. B.
- Affiliations
- Region Stockholm (SE)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Thorell, Lisa B.
- ORCID
- Thorell, Lisa B.
- Venue
- Journal of Attention Disorders
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2016-07-28
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 137-148
- ISSN
- 1087-0547 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-1246
- OpenAlex
- W2075204066
- Cited by
- 46
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 1.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Attention Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Karolinska Institutet
- Vetenskapsrådet
- 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
- adult ADHD, neuropsychological performance, mental illness, differential diagnosis, inhibition, working memory, set-shifting, planning, verbal fluency, reaction time variability, delay aversion, sensitivity and specificity, daily functioning
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Female, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Mental Processes, Neuropsychological Tests, Reaction Time, Case-Control Studies, Executive Function
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