The Effects of Preresponse Cues on Inhibitory Control and Response Time in Adults With ADHD

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of preresponse cues on behavioral control in adults with ADHD. Method: Eighty-eight adults with ADHD and 67 adults with no history of ADHD completed a cued go/no-go task. This task requires participants to respond or inhibit a response to go and no-go targets, respectively, and preresponse cues provide participants with predictive information about the upcoming target. Results: Overall, participants with ADHD made more inhibitory failures and responded more slowly than controls. These group differences were only present in the valid-cue condition, and there were no significant group differences in the invalid-cue conditions. Conclusion: These findings suggest that adults with ADHD are less able to utilize predictive environmental information to facilitate behavioral control.