2023 Volume 71 Issue 1 Pages 13-25
Compared to typically developing children, children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) face difficulties completing visuospatial working memory tasks that require simultaneous processing and retention of visuospatial information. Higher-order cognitive tasks involving problem-solving and mental creation may require processing perceived information while retaining a different piece of information at the same time. These tasks may also require continuous manipulation of visual images and retention of intermediate results. A search of the published literature suggested that there is little or no research on the ability of children with ADHD to retain manipulated images. The present study investigated whether there are differences in the visuospatial short-term memory of children with ADHD compared to typically developing children, and whether the 2 groups are different in their ability to retain intermediate images that are continuously transformed by mental manipulation. The participants were 20 typically developing children (15 boys, 5 girls; average age 10.31 years) and 20 children with ADHD (13 boys, 7 girls; average age 10.29 years). A significant difference was found between the 2 groups of children in their ability to retain transformed images, but not in their visuospatial short-term memory. This suggests that, for children with ADHD, simply retaining perceived information may not be difficult. However, it appears to be challenging for them to retain visual images transformed by mental manipulation.
