The Effects of Working Memory Load on Auditory Distraction in Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Cognitive control provides us with the ability to inter alia, regulate the locus of attention and ignore environmental distractions in accordance with our goals. Auditory distraction is a frequently cited symptom in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (aADHD)–yet few task-based fMRI...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2021.771711/full |
| _version_ | 1818682587188559872 |
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| author | Rina Blomberg Rina Blomberg Andrea Johansson Capusan Andrea Johansson Capusan Andrea Johansson Capusan Carine Signoret Carine Signoret Henrik Danielsson Henrik Danielsson Jerker Rönnberg Jerker Rönnberg Jerker Rönnberg |
| author_facet | Rina Blomberg Rina Blomberg Andrea Johansson Capusan Andrea Johansson Capusan Andrea Johansson Capusan Carine Signoret Carine Signoret Henrik Danielsson Henrik Danielsson Jerker Rönnberg Jerker Rönnberg Jerker Rönnberg |
| author_sort | Rina Blomberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cognitive control provides us with the ability to inter alia, regulate the locus of attention and ignore environmental distractions in accordance with our goals. Auditory distraction is a frequently cited symptom in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (aADHD)–yet few task-based fMRI studies have explored whether deficits in cognitive control (associated with the disorder) impedes on the ability to suppress/compensate for exogenously evoked cortical responses to noise in this population. In the current study, we explored the effects of auditory distraction as function of working memory (WM) load. Participants completed two tasks: an auditory target detection (ATD) task in which the goal was to actively detect salient oddball tones amidst a stream of standard tones in noise, and a visual n-back task consisting of 0-, 1-, and 2-back WM conditions whilst concurrently ignoring the same tonal signal from the ATD task. Results indicated that our sample of young aADHD (n = 17), compared to typically developed controls (n = 17), had difficulty attenuating auditory cortical responses to the task-irrelevant sound when WM demands were high (2-back). Heightened auditory activity to task-irrelevant sound was associated with both poorer WM performance and symptomatic inattentiveness. In the ATD task, we observed a significant increase in functional communications between auditory and salience networks in aADHD. Because performance outcomes were on par with controls for this task, we suggest that this increased functional connectivity in aADHD was likely an adaptive mechanism for suboptimal listening conditions. Taken together, our results indicate that aADHD are more susceptible to noise interference when they are engaged in a primary task. The ability to cope with auditory distraction appears to be related to the WM demands of the task and thus the capacity to deploy cognitive control. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T10:21:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f818778677c743b18022f7891a3705e5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T10:21:13Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-f818778677c743b18022f7891a3705e52022-12-21T21:52:48ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612021-11-011510.3389/fnhum.2021.771711771711The Effects of Working Memory Load on Auditory Distraction in Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity DisorderRina Blomberg0Rina Blomberg1Andrea Johansson Capusan2Andrea Johansson Capusan3Andrea Johansson Capusan4Carine Signoret5Carine Signoret6Henrik Danielsson7Henrik Danielsson8Jerker Rönnberg9Jerker Rönnberg10Jerker Rönnberg11Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenSwedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenDepartment of Psychiatry, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenDepartment of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenCenter for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenDepartment of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenSwedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenDepartment of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenSwedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenDepartment of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenSwedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenCenter for Medical Image Science and Visualization, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenCognitive control provides us with the ability to inter alia, regulate the locus of attention and ignore environmental distractions in accordance with our goals. Auditory distraction is a frequently cited symptom in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (aADHD)–yet few task-based fMRI studies have explored whether deficits in cognitive control (associated with the disorder) impedes on the ability to suppress/compensate for exogenously evoked cortical responses to noise in this population. In the current study, we explored the effects of auditory distraction as function of working memory (WM) load. Participants completed two tasks: an auditory target detection (ATD) task in which the goal was to actively detect salient oddball tones amidst a stream of standard tones in noise, and a visual n-back task consisting of 0-, 1-, and 2-back WM conditions whilst concurrently ignoring the same tonal signal from the ATD task. Results indicated that our sample of young aADHD (n = 17), compared to typically developed controls (n = 17), had difficulty attenuating auditory cortical responses to the task-irrelevant sound when WM demands were high (2-back). Heightened auditory activity to task-irrelevant sound was associated with both poorer WM performance and symptomatic inattentiveness. In the ATD task, we observed a significant increase in functional communications between auditory and salience networks in aADHD. Because performance outcomes were on par with controls for this task, we suggest that this increased functional connectivity in aADHD was likely an adaptive mechanism for suboptimal listening conditions. Taken together, our results indicate that aADHD are more susceptible to noise interference when they are engaged in a primary task. The ability to cope with auditory distraction appears to be related to the WM demands of the task and thus the capacity to deploy cognitive control.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2021.771711/fullattention deficit hyperactivity disorderadultsattentioncognitive controlauditory distractionsalience network (SN) |
| spellingShingle | Rina Blomberg Rina Blomberg Andrea Johansson Capusan Andrea Johansson Capusan Andrea Johansson Capusan Carine Signoret Carine Signoret Henrik Danielsson Henrik Danielsson Jerker Rönnberg Jerker Rönnberg Jerker Rönnberg The Effects of Working Memory Load on Auditory Distraction in Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Frontiers in Human Neuroscience attention deficit hyperactivity disorder adults attention cognitive control auditory distraction salience network (SN) |
| title | The Effects of Working Memory Load on Auditory Distraction in Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder |
| title_full | The Effects of Working Memory Load on Auditory Distraction in Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder |
| title_fullStr | The Effects of Working Memory Load on Auditory Distraction in Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Effects of Working Memory Load on Auditory Distraction in Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder |
| title_short | The Effects of Working Memory Load on Auditory Distraction in Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder |
| title_sort | effects of working memory load on auditory distraction in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder |
| topic | attention deficit hyperactivity disorder adults attention cognitive control auditory distraction salience network (SN) |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2021.771711/full |
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