Action Control in ADHD Children: Do Implementation Intentions Improve Self- Regulation?

5 Abstract The present dissertation aimed at answering an important research question with support of three experimental studies: Is it possible to reduce typical AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity-Disorder (ADHD) symptom behavior through strategies that improve intentional self-regulation? Thus, are ADHD children able to form if-then plans (implementation intentions) and do these plans enhance the self-regulation skills of ADHD children? Children with ADHD usually show various action control problems. For instance, they find it very hard to inhibit a previously learned stimulus-response association, often fail to delay gratification, and have difficulties in resisting distractions. Implementation intentions (i.e., if-then plans) alleviate such problems of action control in healthy adult samples. Therefore, the main objective in the present project was to examine the effectiveness of implementation intentions in a population of children with ADHD. In sum 98 boys with ADHD and 72 boys without ADHD (control group) participated in three different studies addressing the above described research topics. The effects of implementation intentions were examined in three studies using different experimental paradigms: (a) a go/no-go paradigm with a sample of 30 ADHD children (age: M = 10.9, SD = 1.4) and 28 control children (age: M = 11.5 years, SD = 1.1), (b) a similar go/no-go paradigm with an additional variation of the medication with psychostimulants in a sample of 20 ADHD children (age: M = 11.15 years, SD = 1.65 years), and (c) a delay of gratification paradigm with 47 ADHD children (age: M = 10.34 years, SD = 1.59) and 40 control children (age: M = 11.27 years, SD = 1.44). All of the presented studies required to perform tasks on a computer. (a) The experimental setup of the first study used a classic discrimination task with an embedded go/no-go task. The children had to respond to different types of stimuli (animals, means of transportation) by pressing respective keys (discrimination task). Furthermore, they had to inhibit these responses whenever the computer produced a certain sound (go/no-go task). In the goal intention condition, the children were assigned the goal: “I will never press a key for pictures that are accompanied by a sound”. Children in the implementation intention condition received an additional ifthen plan: “And whenever the computer produces a sound, then I will not press anyThe present dissertation aimed at answering an important research question with support of three experimental studies: Is it possible to reduce typical AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity-Disorder (ADHD) symptom behavior through strategies that improve intentional self-regulation? Thus, are ADHD children able to form if-then plans (implementation intentions) and do these plans enhance the self-regulation skills of ADHD children? Children with ADHD usually show various action control problems. For instance, they find it very hard to inhibit a previously learned stimulus-response association, often fail to delay gratification, and have difficulties in resisting distractions. Implementation intentions (i.e., if-then plans) alleviate such problems of action control in healthy adult samples. Therefore, the main objective in the present project was to examine the effectiveness of implementation intentions in a population of children with ADHD. In sum 98 boys with ADHD and 72 boys without ADHD (control group) participated in three different studies addressing the above described research topics. The effects of implementation intentions were examined in three studies using different experimental paradigms: (a) a go/no-go paradigm with a sample of 30 ADHD children (age: M = 10.9, SD = 1.4) and 28 control children (age: M = 11.5 years, SD = 1.1), (b) a similar go/no-go paradigm with an additional variation of the medication with psychostimulants in a sample of 20 ADHD children (age: M = 11.15 years, SD = 1.65 years), and (c) a delay of gratification paradigm with 47 ADHD children (age: M = 10.34 years, SD = 1.59) and 40 control children (age: M = 11.27 years, SD = 1.44). All of the presented studies required to perform tasks on a computer. (a) The experimental setup of the first study used a classic discrimination task with an embedded go/no-go task. The children had to respond to different types of stimuli (animals, means of transportation) by pressing respective keys (discrimination task). Furthermore, they had to inhibit these responses whenever the computer produced a certain sound (go/no-go task). In the goal intention condition, the children were assigned the goal: “I will never press a key for pictures that are accompanied by a sound”. Children in the implementation intention condition received an additional ifthen plan: “And whenever the computer produces a sound, then I will not press any