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European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

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Open Access 01-02-2017 | Original Paper

Hot executive control and response to a stimulant in a double-blind randomized trial in children with ADHD

Authors: Jessica Yarmolovsky, Tamar Szwarc, Miguel Schwartz, Emanuel Tirosh, Ronny Geva

Published in: European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience | Issue 1/2017

Abstract

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is thought to involve an executive inhibitory control (IC) deficit, yet it is not clear if this is a general deficit affecting both cold and hot EC, and if methylphenidate (MPH) affects both systems in treated children. We explored this by using a Stroop-like task in children with ADHD as compared to controls, containing different types of emotional stimuli (six levels), and we investigated the role of intervention with MPH on IC as compared to placebo. Children with ADHD and controls (N = 40; 7–13 years old) were tested with a hot and cold Stroop-like task. This was followed by a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover trial of the effect of MPH on these skills. Children with ADHD showed a specific difficulty inhibiting their responses, particularly to hot, angry and frustration-inducing stimuli. Further, treatment with MPH was effective in reducing errors toward frustration-inducing stimuli as compared to placebo (p < .05, η ² = .347), particularly with repeated exposure to the stimuli. Results indicate that children with ADHD experience executive control difficulties, particularly in hot negative emotional contexts. These emotion regulation difficulties are amenable to stimulant intervention.

Validity survey results note high agreement rates per stimuli as follows: Happy, 100 %; Sad, 97 %; Angry, 94 %; Disorganized, 93 % reported unclear, confused or negative, or eliciting frustration in unknowing what the stimuli represent; Neutral 62 % reported neutral, 20 % rated unspecified emotion and the remaining were equally distributed between negative (12 %) and positive emotions (8 %).

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Title: Hot executive control and response to a stimulant in a double-blind randomized trial in children with ADHD
Authors: Jessica Yarmolovsky
Tamar Szwarc
Miguel Schwartz
Emanuel Tirosh
Ronny Geva
Publication date: 01-02-2017
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience / Issue 1/2017
Print ISSN: 0940-1334
Electronic ISSN: 1433-8491
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-016-0683-8

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Hot executive control and response to a stimulant in a double-blind randomized trial in children with ADHD

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