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Prescription Medication, Backward Masking Performance, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
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by Lindsey N. Smith and Marion T. Gaines IV - Presbyterian College
Categories: Abnormal | Physiological | Sensation/Perception
Ten college students diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 10 undiagnosed controls identified masked and unmasked tachistoscopically presented 2-digit targets. The ADHD group had taken prescribed medication for the disorder prior to 1 of 2 sessions. The earlier masking deficit obtained in adolescent ADHD participants relative to controls at a 49.5 ms stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) but not at 33.0 ms (B. R. Rund, M. Øie, & K. Sundet, 1996), fell short of significance here at an SOA of 71.2 ms, and medication had no effect. Iconic processing difficulties rather than attention problems are implicated in the ADHD masking deficit obtained under controlled conditions which preclude the benefit of greater attention seen with medication in normal reading.