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Problems with executive function (EF) are considered a hallmark of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, little is known about the developmental pathway of everyday EF in these two groups, and whether the two groups follow a similar or different developmental course. In this longitudinal study, children and adolescents with ADHD (n = 84, Mage = 11.6, SD = 2.0), ASD (n = 38, Mage = 12.0, SD = 2.3), and typically developing children (TDC; n = 50, Mage = 11.6, SD = 2.0) were clinically diagnosed and assessed with parent-ratings of everyday EF at baseline and at two-year follow-up (97% retention). Results showed that both individuals with ADHD and individuals with ASD displayed elevated levels of everyday EF problems relative to the TDC at baseline (Hedges g = 1.99 to 2.99). Over the two-year period, everyday EF improved in individuals with ADHD relative to the TDC, whereas individuals with ASD displayed no improvement relative to the TDC. At two-year follow-up, individuals with ADHD and individuals with ASD continued to display elevated levels of everyday EF problems relative to the TDC (Hedges g = 1.61 to 3.19).

Introduction: Cognitive impairments are common in both Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and schizophrenia, but it is unclear whether the pattern of difficulties is similar or different in the two disorders. This cross-sectional and longitudinal study compared the neuropsychological functioning in adolescents with ASD with adolescents with Early Onset Schizophrenia (EOS).Methods: At baseline and at two-year follow-up, participants were assessed with a brief neuropsychological test battery measuring executive functions, visual and verbal learning, delayed recall and recognition and psychomotor speed.Results: We found similar levels of neuropsychological impairment across groups and over time in the adolescents with ASD or EOS. Adolescents in both groups did not improve significantly on verbal learning, verbal delayed recall, visual learning, visual delayed recall or visual delayed recognition, and both groups performed poorer on verbal recognition. Both groups improved on measures of psychomotor processing and executive functions.Conclusion: The findings suggest that it may be difficult to differentiate adolescents with EOS and ASD based on neuropsychological task performance. An implication of the results is that adolescents with either disorder may benefit from a similar approach to the treatment of cognitive impairment in the disorders. [Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority]: [2004-259,2006-186]; [Innlandet Hospital Trust]: [150170]; [Regional Resource Center for Autism, ADHD, Tourette’s syndrome and Narcolepsy ]: [150182]

Objective: This study investigates whether performance in a verbal response task ( Color-Word Interference Test [CWIT]) and a motor response task ( Conners’ Continuous Performance Test [CCPT]) discriminates children with Tourette’s Syndrome (TS), ADHD, and typically developing children (TDC). Method: Nineteen children with TS, 79 with ADHD, and 50 with TDC participated (8-17 years). Results: Children with TS committed significantly fewer errors in the verbal response task than those with ADHD. Moreover, children with TS but without ADHD performed better than TDC. Errors in motor task and speed of response did not distinguish between groups. A cautious tendency of response correlated positively with rates of tics in children with TS. Conclusion: Children with TS were superior in inhibiting a prepotent verbal response; however, comorbidity with ADHD in those children negatively influenced performance. Results support the hypothesis that levels of inhibitory control distinguish children with TS, ADHD, and TDC.

This study investigated the course of and association among changes in autism symptoms, depression symptoms and executive functions (EF) in children with high-functioning autism (HFA). Thirty-four children with HFA and 45 typically developing children (age 9-16) were assessed at baseline and after 2 years. Children with HFA had impaired scores on all measures at both time points. According to parent reports, depressive symptoms decreased over time, while EF improved and autism symptoms were stable. Children's reports did not reveal less depressive symptoms over time. A positive association was found only between changes in autism symptoms and changes in symptoms of depression. A possible implication is that interventions aimed at either autism symptoms or symptoms of depression may improve the other.

The aim of this study was to analyse the development of verbal working memory in children with high-functioning autism compared to children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and typically developing children. A total of 34 children with high-functioning autism, 72 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and 45 typically developing children (age 9–16 years) were included at baseline and followed up approximately 25 months later. The children were given a letter/number sequencing task to assess verbal working memory. The performance of children with high-functioning autism on verbal working memory did not improve after 2 years, while improvement was observed in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and typically developing children. The results indicate a different developmental trajectory for verbal working memory in children with high-functioning autism compared to children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and typically developing children. More research is needed to construct a developmental framework more suitable for children with autism spectrum disorder.

Executive control refers to the mental processes involved in the monitoring and regulation of cognition, emotion, and behavior, which are essential for normal development during childhood and adolescence. Tourette’s syndrome (TS) is considered a model for understanding developmental psychopathology due to the interaction of many genetic, environmental, and emerging factors influencing disease expression. This chapter examines the effect the emerging factors related to syndrome expression in TS can have on behavior over time during childhood and adolescence.

The traditional standard definition and diagnostic criteria of Tourette’s syndrome (TS) are incomplete and leave out significant aspects of TS neurobiology and symptomatology, the latter often misdiagnosed as a separate “comorbid” disorder. Guided by the insights from the studies of lateralized prefrontal lesions and hemi-Parkinsonian syndromes, we consider the consequences of predominantly left versus right frontostriatal dysfunction and introduce the concept of “hemi-Tourette’s syndromes.” Whereas one (mostly left frontostriatal dysfunction) is dominated by tics promptly diagnosed as TS, the other one (mostly right frontostriatal dysfunction) is dominated by excessive exploratory behaviors that are misdiagnosed as hyperactivity and thus as “comorbid” attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The conceptual and clinical definitions of TS should be revised and broadened to account for the features of both the left and right hemi-Tourette’s variants, as well as the combined variant.

Objective: To investigate the development of executive function with pronounced emotional salience (hot EF) and less pronounced emotional salience (cold EF) in boys and girls with ADHD relative to typically developing (TD) children. Method: Seventy-five children with ADHD and 47 TD children were assessed with hot and cold EF tests at baseline and after 2 years. Results: Despite considerable maturation, the ADHD group remained impaired on all cold EF tests relative to TD children after 2 years. There was no effect of gender on cold EF test results. Females with ADHD outperformed TD counterparts on hot EF at baseline. Females with ADHD showed deteriorating hot EF performance, while TD counterparts showed improved hot EF performance across time. Conclusion: Enduring cold EF impairments after 2 years may reflect stable phenotypic traits in children with ADHD. Results indicate divergent developmental trajectories of hot EF in girls with ADHD relative to TD counterparts. The project has received financial support from Innlandet Hospital Trust (grant number 150186) and the Regional Resource Center for Autism, ADHD, Tourette syndrome and Narcolepsy, Oslo University Hospital (grant number 150182).

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to investigate the association between changes in ADHD symptoms, executive functions (EFs), and depression symptoms in girls and boys with ADHD over a 2-year period. METHOD: Thirty-six girls and 39 boys with ADHD, 18 typically developing (TD) girls and 29 TD boys (ages 9-16) were included. Assessments of EFs, ADHD symptoms, and self- and parent-report of depression symptoms were carried out. RESULTS: For girls, a reduction of inattention symptoms was associated with a decline in parent-rated depression symptoms. A reduction in hyperactivity/impulsivity was associated with a reduction in self-rated depression symptoms in boys, and an increase in girls. A reduction in inattention symptoms was associated with a modest increase in self-rated depression symptoms in both boys and girls. CONCLUSION: Gathering information from both the parents and the child with ADHD is important in determining how gender may be influencing symptom profiles.© The Author(s) 2016. Language: en

To investigate the development of executive function with pronounced emotional salience (hot EF) and less pronounced emotional salience (cold EF) in boys and girls with ADHD relative to typically developing (TD) children.Seventy-five children with ADHD and 47 TD children were assessed with hot and cold EF tests at baseline and after 2 years.Despite considerable maturation, the ADHD group remained impaired on all cold EF tests relative to TD children after 2 years. There was no effect of gender on cold EF test results. Females with ADHD outperformed TD counterparts on hot EF at baseline. Females with ADHD showed deteriorating hot EF performance, while TD counterparts showed improved hot EF performance across time.Enduring cold EF impairments after 2 years may reflect stable phenotypic traits in children with ADHD. Results indicate divergent developmental trajectories of hot EF in girls with ADHD relative to TD counterparts.

The aim of the study was to compare executive processes with pronounced (hot) and less pronounced (cold) emotional salience in medication naive children and adolescents with ADHD-combined (ADHD-C) and ADHD-inattentive (ADHD-I) subtypes. Thirty-six subjects with ADHD-C, 44 with ADHD-I, and 50 healthy controls between 8 and 17 years were assessed with laboratory tests and inventory-based scales assessing hot and cold executive functions (EF) (controlled attention, working memory, planning, cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency, hot decision making) and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). The ADHD-C group displayed significantly more impairment compared to the ADHD-I group on the cold BRIEF Inhibition and Monitor scales. There were no significant differences between ADHD subtypes on cold and hot laboratory tests. The hot decision-making task did not correlate with the other cold or hot EF measures. Overall, few EF measures were shown to differentiate between ADHD subtypes nor were there any relationships between the hot decision-making task and the other EF measures, which seems to indicate separate developmental trajectories.

Objective The aim of the study is to evaluate the long-term near-transfer effects of computerized working memory (WM) training on standard WM tasks in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Method Sixty-seven children aged 10–12 years in Vestfold/Telemark counties (Norway) diagnosed with F90.0 Hyperkinetic disorder (ICD-10) were randomly assigned to training or control group. The training group participated in a 25-day training program at school, while the control group received treatment-as-usual. Participants were tested one week before intervention, immediately after and eight months later. Based on a component analysis, six measures of WM were grouped into composites representing Visual, Auditory and Manipulation WM. Results The training group had significant long-term differential gains compared to the control group on all outcome measures. Performance gains for the training group were significantly higher in the visual domain than in the auditory domain. The differential gain in Manipulation WM persisted after controlling for an increase in simple storage capacity. Conclusion Systematic training resulted in a long-term positive gain in performance on similar tasks, indicating the viability of training interventions for children with ADHD. The results provide evidence for both domain-general and domain-specific models. Far-transfer effects were not investigated in this article. Trial Registration: Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN19133620

Symptoms similar to those found in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often occur in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The objective of the current study was to compare verbal working memory, acquisition and delayed recall in children with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) to children with ADHD and typically developing children (TDC). Thirty-eight children with HFA, 79 with ADHD and 50 TDC (age 8-17) were assessed with a letter/number sequencing task and a verbal list-learning task. To investigate the possible influence of attention problems in children with HFA, we divided the HFA group into children with (HFA+) or without (HFA-) "attention problems" according to the Child Behaviour Checklist 6-18. The children with HFA+ displayed significant impairment compared to TDC on all three neurocognitive measures, while the children with HFA- were significantly impaired compared to TDC only on the working memory and acquisition measures. In addition, the HFA+ group scored significantly below the HFA- group and the ADHD group on the verbal working memory and delayed recall measures. The results support the proposition that children with HFA+, HFA-, and ADHD differ not only on a clinical level but also on a neurocognitive level which may have implications for treatment.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the ability of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder-combined subtype (ADHD-C) and predominantly inattentive subtype (ADHD-PI) to direct their attention and to exert cognitive control in a forced attention dichotic listening (DL) task. Twenty-nine, medication-naive participants with ADHD-C, 42 with ADHD-PI, and 40 matched healthy controls (HC) between 9 and 16 years were assessed. In the DL task, two different auditory stimuli (syllables) are presented simultaneously, one in each ear. The participants are asked to report the syllable they hear on each trial with no instruction on focus of attention or to explicitly focus attention and to report either the right- or left-ear syllable. The DL procedure is presumed to reflect different cognitive processes: perception (nonforced condition/NF), attention (forced-right condition/FR), and cognitive control (forced-left condition/FL). As expected, all three groups had normal perception and attention. The children and adolescents with ADHD-PI showed a significant right-ear advantage also during the FL condition, while the children and adolescents in the ADHD-C group showed a no-ear advantage and the HC showed a significant left-ear advantage in the FL condition. This suggests that the ADHD subtypes differ in degree of cognitive control impairment. Our results may have implications for further conceptualization, diagnostics, and treatment of ADHD subtypes.

Background ADHD is diagnosed and treated more often in males than in females. Research on gender differences suggests that girls may be consistently underidentified and underdiagnosed because of differences in the expression of the disorder among boys and girls. One aim of the present study was to assess in a clinical sample of medication naïve boys and girls with ADHD, whether there were significant gender x diagnosis interactions in co-existing symptom severity and executive function (EF) impairment. The second aim was to delineate specific symptom ratings and measures of EF that were most important in distinguishing ADHD from healthy controls (HC) of the same gender. Methods Thirty-seven females with ADHD, 43 males with ADHD, 18 HC females and 32 HC males between 8 and 17 years were included. Co-existing symptoms were assessed with self-report scales and parent ratings. EF was assessed with parent ratings of executive skills in everyday situations (BRIEF), and neuropsychological tests. The three measurement domains (co-existing symptoms, BRIEF, neuropsychological EF tests) were investigated using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and random forest classification. Results ANOVAs revealed only one significant diagnosis x gender interaction, with higher rates of self-reported anxiety symptoms in females with ADHD. Random forest classification indicated that co-existing symptom ratings was substantially better in distinguishing subjects with ADHD from HC in females (93% accuracy) than in males (86% accuracy). The most important distinguishing variable was self-reported anxiety in females, and parent ratings of rule breaking in males. Parent ratings of EF skills were better in distinguishing subjects with ADHD from HC in males (96% accuracy) than in females (92% accuracy). Neuropsychological EF tests had only a modest ability to categorize subjects as ADHD or HC in males (73% accuracy) and females (79% accuracy). Conclusions Our findings emphasize the combination of self-report and parent rating scales for the identification of different comorbid symptom expression in boys and girls already diagnosed with ADHD. Self-report scales may increase awareness of internalizing problems particularly salient in females with ADHD.