Adult ADHD
Visual Abstract
ADHD and retrieval-induced forgetting: evidence for a deficit in the inhibitory control of memory
ADHD and Forgetting
Benjamin C Storm , Holly A White
Summarized by:
August 31, 2023
study source
Memory
Apr 2010
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What they studied
Does ADHD affect our longer-term memory?
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What they found
Those with ADHD had significantly more difficulty retrieving memories in a test that required them to inhibit incorrect answers.
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What this means
These results highlight new deficits for those with ADHD. It may be related to the known link between ADHD and inhibition difficulties.
ADHD and retrieval-induced forgetting: evidence for a deficit in the inhibitory control of memory
Objectives
This study examined whether ADHD could affect longer-term memory.
There is some rationale for a link between ADHD and difficulties in long-term memory.
ADHD is known to be linked with difficulties in inhibition and impulsivity. Inhibition is known to play a role in the retrieval of memories. When we try to remember a specific item, we rely on inhibition to keep ourselves from retrieving other similar memories.
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In order to retrieve a target item from memory, competing items must be selected against, or inhibited. Although inhibition may facilitate the retrieval of target items, it may also impair the retrieval of non-target items, a phenomenon referred to as retrieval-induced for- getting
Study Quote
Research on retrieval-induced forgetting has shown that the selective retrieval of some information can cause the forgetting of other information. Such forgetting is believed to result from inhibitory processes that function to resolve interference during retrieval. The current study exa...
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Methods
In order to study this, researchers performed a memory test on 40 adults with ADHD and compare the results to 40 adults without ADHD.
The test that they used asked the participants to memorizecategories and items. They then tested participants’ abilities to remember the items based on the category as a prompt.
Study Quote
A total of 40 adults with ADHD and 40 adults without ADHD participated in a standard retrieval-induced forgetting experiment. Critically, half of the items were tested using category cues and the other half of the items were tested using category-plus-one-letter-stem cues.
Results
The test results showed that in the more difficult condition, both those with ADHD and those without ADHD struggled to remember the item being tested. In this condition, participants were asked to remember the item based just on the category. There was no significant difference between those with ADHD and those without ADHD.
However, when participants were given the first letter of the item, almost like getting a clue during a quiz, those without ADHD were significantly more likely to guess the correct item than those with ADHD.
Study Quote
Whereas both ADHD and non-ADHD participants demonstrated retrieval-induced forgetting on the final category-cued recall test, only non-ADHD participants demonstrated retrieval-induced forgetting on the final category-plus-stem-cued recall test.
Conclusions
Based on these results, the authors concluded that this is evidence of ADHD affecting memory.
The authors theorized that much of this may be due to inhibition since the specific test used in the study relied on the inhibition of incorrect answers.
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only non-ADHD participants demonstrated significant levels of retrieval-induced forgetting on the category-plus-stem-cued recall test. These results suggest that individuals with ADHD do have a deficit in the inhibitory control of memory but that this deficiency may only be apparent in studies that employ a final test that controls for output interference
However, more research is needed to understand the mechanism of this phenomenon.
The study adds to what we already know about working memory. Those with ADHD have significant difficulties with working memory, the small amount of easily retrievable memory we use for a task:
What is working memory?
Study Quote
These results suggest that individuals with ADHD do have a deficit in the inhibitory control of memory, but that this deficit may only be apparent when output interference is adequately controlled on the final test.