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Kirti Thummala,
Atasi Satpathy
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Subject Listing - Psychology
Advisor: Dr. Priti Shah
Saturday, Poster Session 6, Presentation Kiosk 30 C, Health & Fitness Center
INHIBITION TRAINING FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a relatively common disorder, characterized by inattentiveness, impulsivity and hyperactivity (Barkley, 1997, 2002). Children and adults with ADHD tend to be impaired in certain types of inhibition (Nigg, 2001). The purpose of the present study was to provide college students with ADHD intensive inhibition training that would allow them to transfer their improved skills to novel inhibition related tasks. Research indicates that executive functions such as working memory and inhibition can be trained, and that skills improved during that training can transfer to a range of novel executive function-dependent tasks. Klingberg et al. (2000) showed that children with ADHD and normal adults trained on working memory tasks improved significantly on transfer tasks in comparison to a control group. To our knowledge, the present study was the first to examine the effects of inhibition training on adults with ADHD. Eight undergraduate students (4 training, 4 control) at the University of Michigan who had been clinically diagnosed with ADHD were trained over a span of 20 sessions. Control subjects completed a less intensive training battery that did not target inhibition. Prior to the training sessions, a pre-test measured subjects' performance on training and transfer tasks. Following training, a post-test was given to determine if the inhibition skills attained during training were robust and transferred to the non-trained measures of inhibition, task-switching and working memory. Preliminary results showed improved overall performance as a result of training. Data is currently being analyzed and detailed results will be reported.
Advisor: Dr. Priti Shah, Assistant Professor, Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI