Validity of the executive function theory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analytic review.

doi:10.1016/J.BIOPSYCH.2005.02.006

Home
/
Papers
/
Validity of the executive function theory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analytic review.

Journal Article•DOI•

Validity of the executive function theory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analytic review.

Erik G. Willcutt¹, Alysa E. Doyle², Joel T. Nigg³, Stephen V. Faraone⁴, Bruce F. Pennington⁵ - Show less +1 more•Institutions (5)

University of Colorado Boulder¹, Harvard University², Michigan State University³, State University of New York Upstate Medical University⁴, University of Denver⁵

01 Jun 2005-Biological Psychiatry (Elsevier)-Vol. 57, Iss: 11, pp 1336-1346

TL;DR: Difficulties with EF appear to be one important component of the complex neuropsychology of ADHD, and moderate effect sizes and lack of universality of EF deficits among individuals with ADHD suggest that EF weaknesses are neither necessary nor sufficient to cause all cases of ADHD.

read less

About: This article is published in Biological Psychiatry.The article was published on 2005-06-01. It has received 3155 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder & Executive functions.

...read moreread less

Citations

PDF

Open Access

More filters

Journal Article•DOI•

Altered baseline brain activity in children with ADHD revealed by resting-state functional MRI

[...]

Yu-Feng Zang¹, Yong He, Chaozhe Zhu¹, Chaozhe Zhu², Qingjiu Cao³, Manqiu Sui³, Meng Liang¹, Lixia Tian¹, Tianzi Jiang¹, Yufeng Wang³ - Show less +6 more•Institutions (3)

Chinese Academy of Sciences¹, Beijing Normal University², Peking University³

01 Mar 2007-Brain & Development

TL;DR: A new marker of functional magnetic resonance imaging, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) fluctuation, is used to investigate the baseline brain function of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and suggests that the changed spontaneous neuronal activity of these regions may be implicated in the underlying pathophysiology in children with ADHD.

...read moreread less

Abstract: In children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), functional neuroimaging studies have revealed abnormalities in various brain regions, including prefrontal-striatal circuit, cerebellum, and brainstem. In the current study, we used a new marker of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), amplitude of low-frequency (0.01–0.08 Hz) fluctuation (ALFF) to investigate the baseline brain function of this disorder. Thirteen boys with ADHD (13.0 ± 1.4 years) were examined by resting-state fMRI and compared with age-matched controls. As a result, we found that patients with ADHD had decreased ALFF in the right inferior frontal cortex, left sensorimotor cortex, and bilateral cerebellum and the vermis as well as increased ALFF in the right anterior cingulated cortex, left sensorimotor cortex, and bilateral brainstem. This resting-state fMRI study suggests that the changed spontaneous neuronal activity of these regions may be implicated in the underlying pathophysiology in children with ADHD.

...read moreread less

1,990 citations

Cites background from "Validity of the executive function ..."

...It may depend on the specific research question [ 46 ]....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Practice Parameter for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

[...]

Steven R. Pliszka, William Bernet, Oscar G. Bukstein, Heather J. Walter, Valerie Arnold, Joseph H. Beitchman, R. Scott Benson, Allan K. Chrisman, John D. Hamilton, Helene Keable, Joan Kinlan, Jon McClellan, David Rue, Ulrich Schoettle, Saundra Stock, Kristin Kroeger Ptakowski, Jennifer Medicus, Larry Greenhill, Timothy E. Wilens, Thomas J. Spencer, Joe Biederman, Mina K. Dulcan, Lily Hechtman, Caryn L. Carlson, William E. Pelham, James M. Swanson, Russell A. Barkley, Joan P. Gerring, Guy Palmes, Cynthia W. Santos, Catherine Jaselskis - Show less +27 more

01 Jul 2007-Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

TL;DR: This practice parameter describes the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) based on the current scientific evidence and clinical consensus of experts in the field.

...read moreread less

Abstract: This practice parameter describes the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) based on the current scientific evidence and clinical consensus of experts in the field. This parameter discusses the clinical evaluation for ADHD, comorbid conditions associated with ADHD, research on the etiology of the disorder, and psychopharmacological and psychosocial interventions for ADHD. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2007;46(7):894Y921. Key Words: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, evaluation, treatment, practice parameter.

...read moreread less

1,561 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain

[...]

Verneri Anttila¹, Verneri Anttila², Brendan Bulik-Sullivan¹, Brendan Bulik-Sullivan² +717 more•Institutions (270)

22 Jun 2018-Science

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that, in the general population, the personality trait neuroticism is significantly correlated with almost every psychiatric disorder and migraine, and it is shown that both psychiatric and neurological disorders have robust correlations with cognitive and personality measures.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Disorders of the brain can exhibit considerable epidemiological comorbidity and often share symptoms, provoking debate about their etiologic overlap. We quantified the genetic sharing of 25 brain disorders from genome-wide association studies of 265,218 patients and 784,643 control participants and assessed their relationship to 17 phenotypes from 1,191,588 individuals. Psychiatric disorders share common variant risk, whereas neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another and from the psychiatric disorders. We also identified significant sharing between disorders and a number of brain phenotypes, including cognitive measures. Further, we conducted simulations to explore how statistical power, diagnostic misclassification, and phenotypic heterogeneity affect genetic correlations. These results highlight the importance of common genetic variation as a risk factor for brain disorders and the value of heritability-based methods in understanding their etiology.

...read moreread less

1,357 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

SeminarAttention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

[...]

Joseph Biederman, Stephen V. Faraone

16 Jul 2005

TL;DR: Converging evidence from animal and human studies implicates the dysregulation of frontal-subcortical-cerebellar catecholaminergic circuits in the pathophysiology of ADHD, and molecular imaging studies suggest that abnormalities of the dopamine transporter lead to impaired neurotransmission.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity that affects 8-12% of children worldwide. Although the rate of ADHD falls with age, at least half of children with the disorder will have impairing symptoms in adulthood. Twin, adoption, and molecular genetic studies show ADHD to be highly heritable, and other findings have recorded obstetric complications and psychosocial adversity as predisposing risk factors. Converging evidence from animal and human studies implicates the dysregulation of frontal-subcortical-cerebellar catecholaminergic circuits in the pathophysiology of ADHD, and molecular imaging studies suggest that abnormalities of the dopamine transporter lead to impaired neurotransmission. Studies during the past decade have shown the safety and effectiveness of new non-stimulant drugs and long-acting formulations of methylphenidate and amfetamine. Other investigations have also clarified the appropriate role of targeted psychosocial treatments in the context of ongoing pharmacotherapy.

...read moreread less

1,356 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Major Depressive Disorder Is Associated With Broad Impairments on Neuropsychological Measures of Executive Function: A Meta-Analysis and Review

[...]

Hannah R. Snyder¹•Institutions (1)

University of Colorado Boulder¹

01 Jan 2013-Psychological Bulletin

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that major depressive disorder is reliably associated with impaired performance on neuropsychological measures of EF, and the results are consistent with the theory that MDD is associated with broad impairment in multiple aspects of EF.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Cognitive impairments are now widely acknowledged as an important aspect of major depressive disorder (MDD), and it has been proposed that executive function (EF) may be particularly impaired in patients with MDD. However, the existence and nature of EF impairments associated with depression remain strongly debated. Although many studies have found significant deficits associated with MDD on neuropsychological measures of EF, others have not, potentially due to low statistical power, task impurity, and diverse patient samples, and there have been no recent, comprehensive, meta-analyses investigating EF in patients with MDD. The current meta-analysis uses random-effects models to synthesize 113 previous research studies that compared participants with MDD to healthy control participants on at least one neuropsychological measure of EF. Results of the meta-analysis demonstrate that MDD is reliably associated with impaired performance on neuropsychological measures of EF, with effect sizes ranging from 0.32 to 0.97. Although patients with MDD also have slower processing speed, motor slowing alone cannot account for these results. In addition, some evidence suggests that deficits on neuropsychological measures of EF are greater in patients with more severe current depression symptoms, and those taking psychotropic medications, whereas evidence for effects of age was weaker. The results are consistent with the theory that MDD is associated with broad impairment in multiple aspects of EF. Implications for treatment of MDD and theories of EF are discussed. Future research is needed to establish the specificity and causal link between MDD and EF impairments.

...read moreread less

1,243 citations

1
2
3
4
…
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200

Collapse

References

PDF

Open Access

More filters

Book•

Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences

[...]

Jacob Cohen¹•Institutions (1)

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill¹

01 Dec 1969

TL;DR: The concepts of power analysis are discussed in this paper, where Chi-square Tests for Goodness of Fit and Contingency Tables, t-Test for Means, and Sign Test are used.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Contents: Prefaces. The Concepts of Power Analysis. The t-Test for Means. The Significance of a Product Moment rs (subscript s). Differences Between Correlation Coefficients. The Test That a Proportion is .50 and the Sign Test. Differences Between Proportions. Chi-Square Tests for Goodness of Fit and Contingency Tables. The Analysis of Variance and Covariance. Multiple Regression and Correlation Analysis. Set Correlation and Multivariate Methods. Some Issues in Power Analysis. Computational Procedures.

...read moreread less

115,069 citations

"Validity of the executive function ..." refers background or methods in this paper

...Effect sizes for all EF measures fell in the range that is typically considered a medium effect (Cohen 1988), but the strongest and most consistent effects were obtained on measures of response inhibition, vigilance, spatial working memory, and some measures of planning....
[...]
...…minimal evidence of an association between EF and ADHD (McGee et al 1989), leading the authors to suggest that additional research was needed to test whether the relation between ADHD and EF was significant in the general population or was a sampling artifact restricted to clinic-referred samples....
[...]
...Weighted mean effect sizes for all measures fell in the range considered a medium effect (d .43–.69; Cohen 1988)....
[...]
...The procedure described by Cohen (1988) was used to compute a standardized effect size (d) for the mean difference between groups with and without ADHD on each EF measure administered in each study (Table 2)....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex "Frontal Lobe" tasks: a latent variable analysis.

[...]

Akira Miyake¹, Naomi P. Friedman¹, Michael J. Emerson¹, Alexander H. Witzki¹, Amy Howerter¹, Tor D. Wager² - Show less +2 more•Institutions (2)

University of Colorado Boulder¹, University of Michigan²

01 Aug 2000-Cognitive Psychology

TL;DR: The results suggest that it is important to recognize both the unity and diversity ofExecutive functions and that latent variable analysis is a useful approach to studying the organization and roles of executive functions.

...read moreread less

12,182 citations

Additional excerpts

...…5, Dimoska et al (2003); 6, Fallgatter; 7, Levin et al (2001); 8, Mariani and Barkley (1997); 9, Matáro et al (1997); 10, Mentzel et al (1998); 11, iyake et al (2000); 12, Owen et al (1996a); 13, Owen et al (1996b); 14, Petrides and Milner (1982); 15, Robbins et al (1998); 16, Rowe et al (2001);…...
[...]

Book•

Statistical Methods for Meta-Analysis

[...]

Larry V. Hedges, Ingram Olkin

01 Jan 1985

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a model for estimating the effect size from a series of experiments using a fixed effect model and a general linear model, and combine these two models to estimate the effect magnitude.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Preface. Introduction. Data Sets. Tests of Statistical Significance of Combined Results. Vote-Counting Methods. Estimation of a Single Effect Size: Parametric and Nonparametric Methods. Parametric Estimation of Effect Size from a Series of Experiments. Fitting Parametric Fixed Effect Models to Effect Sizes: Categorical Methods. Fitting Parametric Fixed Effect Models to Effect Sizes: General Linear Models. Random Effects Models for Effect Sizes. Multivariate Models for Effect Sizes. Combining Estimates of Correlation Coefficients. Diagnostic Procedures for Research Synthesis Models. Clustering Estimates of Effect Magnitude. Estimation of Effect Size When Not All Study Outcomes Are Observed. Meta-Analysis in the Physical and Biological Sciences. Appendix. References. Index.

...read moreread less

9,769 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of ADHD.

[...]

Russell A. Barkley

01 Jan 1997-Psychological Bulletin

TL;DR: A theoretical model that links inhibition to 4 executive neuropsychological functions that appear to depend on it for their effective execution is constructed and finds it to be strongest for deficits in behavioral inhibition, working memory, regulation of motivation, and motor control in those with ADHD.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comprises a deficit in behavioral inhibition. A theoretical model is constructed that links inhibition to 4 executive neuropsychological functions that appear to depend on it for their effective execution: (a) working memory, (b) self-regulation of affect-motivation-arousal, (c) internalization of speech, and (d) reconstitution (behavioral analysis and synthesis). Extended to ADHD, the model predicts that ADHD should be associated with secondary impairments in these 4 executive abilities and the motor control they afford. The author reviews evidence for each of these domains of functioning and finds it to be strongest for deficits in behavioral inhibition, working memory, regulation of motivation, and motor control in those with ADHD. Although the model is promising as a potential theory of self-control and ADHD, far more research is required to evaluate its merits and the many predictions it makes about ADHD.

...read moreread less

6,958 citations

"Validity of the executive function ..." refers background in this paper

...…EF mpairments or other neurocognitive weaknesses may directly ause poor performance on standardized tests of intelligence or cademic achievement (Barkley 1997), in which case controlling or these variables may remove a portion of the variance that is hared between ADHD symptoms and EF…...
[...]
...…2, Brandeis et al (1998); 3, Carlin et al (2000); , Demakis (2003); 5, Dimoska et al (2003); 6, Fallgatter; 7, Levin et al (2001); 8, Mariani and Barkley (1997); 9, Matáro et al (1997); 10, Mentzel et al (1998); 11, iyake et al (2000); 12, Owen et al (1996a); 13, Owen et al (1996b); 14,…...
[...]
...Several authors proposed that different patterns of EF weaknesses could provide key evidence of discriminant validity between the DSM-IV inattentive and combined subtypes, particularly on measures of response inhibition (e.g., Barkley 1997; Chhabildas et al 2001; Nigg 2001)....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Specific impairments of planning

[...]

Tim Shallice

25 Jun 1982-Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B

TL;DR: An information-processing model is outlined that predicts that performance on non-routine tasks can be impaired independently of performance on routine tasks, related to views on frontal lobe functions, particularly those of Luria.

...read moreread less

Abstract: An information-processing model is outlined that predicts that performance on non-routine tasks can be impaired independently of performance on routine tasks. The model is related to views on frontal lobe functions, particularly those of Luria. Two methods of obtaining more rigorous tests of the model are discussed. One makes use of ideas from artificial intelligence to derive a task heavily loaded on planning abilities. A group of patients with left anterior lesions has a specific deficit on the task. Subsidiary investigations support the inference that this is a planning impairment.

...read moreread less

3,591 citations

"Validity of the executive function ..." refers background in this paper

...…1989); Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Heaton (1981); Trailmaking Test Reitan and Wolfson (1985); Tower of Hanoi Borys et al (1982); Tower of London, hallice (1982); Porteus Mazes, Porteus (1965); Rey–Osterreith Complex Figure Test, Waber and Holmes (1985); Sentence span, Siegel and Ryan (1989);…...
[...]
...Spatial Working Memoryc 15, 20 13 12 aReferences for additional information about each task: Stop-signal reaction time, Logan et al (1997); CPT omission and commission errors, Newcorn et al 1989); Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Heaton (1981); Trailmaking Test Reitan and Wolfson (1985); Tower of Hanoi Borys et al (1982); Tower of London, hallice (1982); Porteus Mazes, Porteus (1965); Rey–Osterreith Complex Figure Test, Waber and Holmes (1985); Sentence span, Siegel and Ryan (1989); Digits ackward, Wechsler (1991); Self-ordered pointing, Petrides and Milner (1982); CANTAB, Owen et al (1996a). bStudies cited support validity of the task as a measure of executive function....
[...]