An investigation of attention biases to emotional faces in individuals with ADHD

Abstract

The present studies aimed to examine attention capture biases in response to emotional stimuli in adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Individuals with ADHD and matched controls completed an affective priming task with happy, sad, angry, disgust and neutral facial expressions as stimuli. In Study One, individuals who self-disclosed a diagnosis of ADHD showed greater attention capture for angry and happy expressions, though marginally less attention capture for disgusted expressions. In Study Two, individuals who met criteria for child ADHD and/or current diagnosis of ADHD demonstrated greater attention capture for disgusted emotional expressions and less attention capture for angry emotional expressions. Different findings between study One and Two suggest different emotion processing patterns as individuals with ADHD develop into adulthood.