Epiphany - attention vs. inhibition

[ljgeoff]

In my Research Methods class, we had to break up in small groups and run a research project, write up the paper and make a poster presentation. Our project was on attention. Attention is a process that include arousal and vigilance. When we are looking for something, we are in a state of arousal or anxiety -- when we find it there's a sense of relief. Vigilance is what keeps us looking until we either find what we're looking for or confirm that it is not present.

When we are searching for something in a field of distracters, we must hold attention for the thing which we are looking for, and at the same time, inhibit our notice of the distracters. The action of inhibition is not simply not-attention, it is something unique from attention, in the way that blue is not not-red, it is blue.

I gave my presentation last week Societal implications of the heritability of conduct disorder and I got an epiphany about attention and inhibition -- there have been some studies about ADHD vs. impulse, attention and inhibition. I think that only one study has been published so far, but it said something about inattention in ADHD being caused by impulsivity, not inattention. It didn't make sense to me at the time, and then, *boom* : It isn't that ADHD folks can't pay attention. It's that they can't inhibit. They are paying attention to everything. That's why speed works for them -- it helps them process the information of all that stuff that they are forced to pay attention to, because they can't inhibit the unnecessary information.

Cool, huh?

The funny thing is, I got to work and googled it up and, yep, that is just what the guys in lab coats are looking at -- deficiencies in response inhibition. Now I want to write a layman's article about it, but I'm wondering if it's old news and I'm just behind the curve. Anybody hear about this stuff?

Comments

[julia-reynolds.livejournal.com]

This is very interesting. It makes me think about video games, which are entertaining because of the constant cycle of arousal, vigilance, and relief. I don't know how many damn piles of special dirt or magical herbs I've hunted for in World of Warcraft before I finally ended my addiction/quit playing, but you are describing exactly the emotional cycle of games like that.

The kid on our street who has ADHD is a notably excellent Call of Duty player, a game that requires constant vigilance and no real inhibition. You seem to be saying that his ability to perceive threats and targets from a group of enemies is actually enhanced by his condition.

One statistic I would like to see: how many returning war vets diagnosed with PTSD have ADHD? Based on what you've told us, I wonder if ADHD combat soldiers would be more resistant to PTSD?

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

This study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16110046) looks at video game playing ability vs. ADHD. Surprise! The researchers find that kids with ADHD are better gamers. I can only access the abstract, but it looks like to me that the researchers are a little surprised that the kids with lack of inhibition are better at gaming. If this is so, I'm surprised that they're surprised.

Talking to a friend of mine last night who is highly ADHD, he mentioned that he has an Aunt who is a grade school teacher who doesn't take her ADHD meds when teaching because she has found that she's more able to holistically take in the activities in the classroom when she's not on her drugs -- that is, she can "notice all the kids at once."

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Anybody hear about this stuff?

Yes, but I'm a psychologist, so I'd say I'm a bad example. I think the article would be very useful indeed.