ADHD Questions
Does ADHD affect working memory?
Charles Li, MD
June 9, 2023
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ADHD has been shown to reduce working memory, the memory we use to for a task at hand.
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Brain imaging studies have found less activity in regions associated with working memory.
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Anxiety can further exacerbate ADHD's negative effect on working memory. Deficits in working memory can affect high-IQ individuals with ADHD as well.
While attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity symptoms define ADHD, experts are starting to recognize deficits in executive function as a critical aspect of ADHD.
What is working memory?
Executive function encompasses our higher-level thought processes that we use for problem-solving. These include working memory.
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(Executive Function) has been defined as “the ability to maintain an appropriate problem set for attainment of future goals and includes such abilities as components of attention, reasoning, planning, inhibition, set-shifting, interference control, and working memory.
Welsh & Pennington, 1989, p. 201
Studies have consistently identified deficits in working memory among those with ADHD, alongside other executive function deficits:
Validity of the executive function theory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analytic review
Studies with brain imaging have identified differences in those with ADHD that are consistent with deficits in executive function. Adults with ADHD have less visible activity in brain regions associated with working memory.
Working memory deficits and high IQ
These effects have been seen in brilliant children with ADHD as well. One study found that 40% of children with high IQs and ADHD had severe cognitive deficits in their working memory:
Executive function impairments in high IQ children and adolescents with ADHD
Even though working memory is used in IQ tests, and is a crucial component of our cognition, highly intelligent children with ADHD can still struggle with it.
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High IQ clearly does not protect individuals in childhood, adolescence or adulthood from having impairments of ADHD.
The effect of anxiety on working memory and ADHD
Anxiety has been shown to alter the way we experience ADHD. Those with anxiety can have different ADHD symptoms.
One of the key differences is in working memory. One study found that children with ADHD and anxiety had significantly more difficulty with working memory than children with only ADHD.
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Children with ADHD and anxiety do better on stop signal paradigms that measure response inhibition (Brown, 2000, p. 141). On the other hand, working memory tasks and serial addition tasks are particularly challenging for patients with comorbid ADHD and anxiety (Brown, 2000, p. 141).
Brown, 2000