Psychology professor Ed Awh, with researchers at the University and Oregon Health and Sciences University is recruiting participants for a study on ADHD, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. The study aims to develop accurate tools to diagnose attention disorders. In an interview with the Emerald, Awh explains how this research might contribute to the medical field.
ODE: What led to your research on ADHD?
The project is following up on research we did with visual interference, Awh said. The visual interference research wasn’t geared toward attention disorders, but researchers noticed that some participants in that study had particular difficulty seeing through visual noise. These participants tended to have a diagnosis or family history of ADHD. In this study, we are being much more careful, attempting to replicate the original findings and examining the basic characteristics of ADHD. We just stumbled upon this along the way, which is not an unusual way of making scientific findings.
ODE: What motivates your project?
People are currently diagnosed with attention deficit disorders by identifying a list of symptoms that they are experiencing, Awh said. This subjective, anecdotal basis for diagnosis doesn’t take into account the neurological factors that might lead to identifying more specific characteristics of ADHD and other conditions the individual might have.
ODE: What do you hope to achieve through this research?
We hope to contribute a more accurate measure of ADHD, Awh said. The current diagnostic is relatively subjective in nature. We may find that ADHD is more than one condition. Understanding the underlying, core symptoms may reveal that we have two or three types of ADHD.
ODE: Can people who have been diagnosed with ADD also participate?
ADD and ADHD are essentially the same for all intents and purposes, Awh said. The diagnostic criteria are the same, so some people with ADHD may experience more inattention symptoms than hyperactivity symptoms. We might find that there really are distinct disorders, but it’s likely that some people have been misdiagnosed.
ODE: What impact would a better diagnostic have on people with attention deficit symptoms?
While a subjective measure of ADHD is probably responsible for some false-positive diagnoses, you’re also going to increase the number of people with ADHD who are not being diagnosed, Awh said. There may be people who have problems with attention but overcome their challenges with careful planning. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t experiencing inattention, and an objective measure might help diagnose those people. It might also help develop a spectrum of ADHD to determine the severity of the condition and ADHD tProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0
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For more information about the study or to find out how to participate, contact the UO Psychology Clinic at 346-4954 or by e-mail at [email protected]. The project requires adult subjects between the ages of 18 and 35 who have been diagnosed or may have ADHD. Participants will be reimbursed at $25 per hour.
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