Proactive Control of Emotional Information in Adult ADHD

Proactive control refers to the biasing of information processing toward a task goal during anticipation of a relevant event. This study investigated proactive control of emotional information in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using a manual face-word Stroop task. Individuals with ADHD and healthy controls (n = 51 per group) were selected from a large participant pool (n = 1,020) using the Adult ADHD Self-Report-Scale. Images of happy or anxious faces were presented, with the word HAPPY or ANXIOUS written across the faces, congruent or incongruent with facial expressions. Participants had to identify facial expressions while ignoring word meaning. To investigate contextual cue utilization, the proportion of incongruent trials was manipulated (75% vs. 25%) to generate mostly congruent (MC) and mostly incongruent (MI) contexts. Individuals with ADHD showed larger error rate and longer reaction time (RT) than controls. Context effects were reflected by a greater difference in error rate and RT between congruent and incongruent trials within the MC than the MI context. These effects were independent of the presence of ADHD. The findings suggest that the ability to use contextual cues to facilitate proactive cognitive control is preserved in adult ADHD, despite marked impairments in attention and processing speed.