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This study examined whether sensory modulation disorder-sensory overresponsivity (SMD-SOR) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have a significant effect on the perception of aversive auditory stimuli. Participants were 66 young adult women. The diagnosis of SOR was made using the Sensory Responsiveness Questionnaire, and ADHD was diagnosed by a qualified psychiatrist or neurologist using criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Participants were presented with the Battery of Aversiveness to Sounds, short presentations of daily life sounds, and rated each sound stimulus verbally according to its perceived unpleasantness. Participants with SOR rated low-intensity aversive sounds as significantly more aversive than participants without SOR. High-intensity sounds obtained a marginal significant difference exclusively in participants with ADHD. The perception of aversive auditory stimuli in adults with SOR appears to be unique and different than the profile of adults with ADHD., (Copyright © 2018 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.)

Certain behavioral expressions of sensory modulation disorder (SMD) such as distractibility, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are often similar to those of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in pediatric and adult populations. There is also a high comorbidity rate between these two diagnoses and absence of research regarding the objective neuropsychological differentiation between them. In the present study we employed a factorial design which enabled us to: (a) systematically examine the effects of SMD and ADHD on executive attention in a sample of adult females using a Stroop-like task, and (b) measure the effect of aversive conditions (sounds) on executive attention. The experimental measures used were the Stroop-like Location-Direction Task (SLDT) to assess executive attention and the battery of aversiveness to sounds (BAS), a standardized measure of aversive sounds that was developed for this study and enabled individual customization of aversive auditory sounds. Results revealed, as expected, a specific core deficit in executive attention for the ADHD factor. In addition to that, the present study provides an important, pioneering finding of SMD impairment in a unique combination of a cognitively demanding task with aversive sounds, providing preliminary objective evidence differentiating SMD from ADHD., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)