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Social and Academic Problems in ADHD: The Role of Implicit and Explicit Learning

Social and Academic Problems in ADHD: The Role of Implicit and Explicit Learning

Headshot of Cynthia Huang-Pollock

PI: Cynthia Huang-Pollock

NIH/NIMH R01MH084947
Administered in: Liberal Arts

http://childattention.la.psu.edu/

Abstract:

The goal of this study is to better understand the cognitive and learning processes that contribute to two of the most common, co-occurring, and chronic impairments seen in children with ADHD: social maladjustment and academic underachievement. Both are significant risk factors for a host of negative outcomes including delinquency, substance abuse, as well as lower occupational and socioeconomic status. Despite the availability of a number of empirically supported psychosocial treatments for ADHD, none have demonstrated long term benefits in the normalization of peer status or academic achievement. The void in our basic understanding of skill acquisition processes in ADHD, combined with a need to improve our existing psychosocial and academic remediation programs, argues for a comprehensive study of learning in ADHD, and of the cognitive processes that contribute to the acquisition of skill.

The first aim of the present study therefore asks whether slow speed of processing accounts for ADHD-related deficits in executive functions (EF) as well as the poor acquisition of explicit cognitive skills, which in turn would predict chronic academic underachievement. If this proves to be the case, then psychotherapeutic and pharmacologic interventions should target processing speed (as opposed to the more molar EF process), which would have positive downstream implications for a number of higher order EFs.

The second and third aims examine whether the implicit learning system, a learning system largely independent of EF, but dependent upon neuroanatomical structures implicated in ADHD (i.e. basal ganglia and striatum) and responsible for learning complex nonverbal rules used in directing social behavior, is (a) intact in children with ADHD, and (b) can predict social performance deficits in ADHD.

To meet these goals, we have adopted an SEM approach to systematically examine the potential conjoint contributions of EFs, speeded performance, and explicit/implicit learning processes on social and academic performance in children aged 8-12 with and without DSM-IV ADHD.

Research Staff:

Headshot of Marissa Reynolds

Marissa Reynolds
Project Coordinator

Graduate Students:

Headshot of Jason Feldman

Jason Feldman
Child-Clinical Psychology

Headshot of Hilary Galloway-Long

Hilary Galloway-Long
Child-Clinical Psychology

Headshot of Ali Roule

Ali Roule
Child-Clinical Psychology

Headshot of Zvi Shapiro

Zvi Shapiro
Child-Clinical Psychology

Headshot of Alicia Vallorani

Alicia Vallorani
Developmental Psychology and Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

Headshot of Tyler Warner

Tyler Warner
Child-Clinical Psychology

Headshot of Shane Wise

Shane Wise
Child-Clinical Psychology

Undergraduate Students:

Headshot of Danielle Dellaquila

Danielle Dellaquila

Headshot of Jenna Irons

Jenna Irons