Effects of auditory and visual interference control on visuospatial working memory in children with ADHD

Thitiya WANGKAWAN, Cynthia LAI, Peeraya MUNKHETVIT, Wai Kit Trevor YUNG, Supaporn CHINCHAI

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

Abstract

Background: Interference control is the cognitive control needed to prevent interference due to competition of relevant and irrelevant information that closely related to working memory. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of auditory and visual interference control on visuospatial working memory of children with ADHD. 

Methods: The participants included thirty children with ADHD and thirty normal control children aged 7-12 years old. All children took the computerized test of visuospatial working memory assessment. The test comprised the N-back and running Memory tasks divided into three conditions: noninterference, auditory interference, and visual interference in three levels of difficulty. 

Results: The results revealed that there was a significant difference in N-back with auditory interference (t = 2.13, P = 0.04) and N-back with visual interference task (t = 2.48, P = 0.02) between normal control children and children with ADHD. However, there was no significant difference in N-back with noninterference task (t = 1.61, P = 0.11) between normal control children and children with ADHD. There was a significant difference in running memory with noninterference (t = 5.34, P ≤ 0.001), running memory with auditory interference (t = 6.23, P ≤ 0.001), and running memory with visual interference task (t = 5.86, P ≤ 0.001) between normal control children and children with ADHD. In addition, the comparison of the mean score revealed that children with ADHD had poorer performance of interference control on visuospatial working memory tasks than normal control children in overall tasks. 

Conclusion: Children with ADHD exhibited inefficient control over themselves, especially in the interference condition tasks in which they performed more error responses when interacting in the tasks. The present study supports the evidence-based mechanisms of auditory and visual interference control in visuospatial working memory of children with ADHD. Copyright © 2021 Journal of Medical Sciences.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)265-272
JournalJournal of Medical Sciences
Volume41
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2021

Citation

Wangkawan, T., Lai, C., Munkhetvit, P., Yung, T., & Chinchai, S. (2021). Effects of auditory and visual interference control on visuospatial working memory in children with ADHD. Journal of Medical Sciences, 41(6), 265-272. https://doi.org/10.4103/jmedsci.jmedsci_10_20

Keywords

  • Visuospatial working memory assessment
  • Visuospatial working memory
  • Interference control
  • N‑back task
  • Running memory task

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Effects of auditory and visual interference control on visuospatial working memory in children with ADHD'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.