Rhythm Discrimination Abilities in Adults with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether individuals with ADHD have similar rhythm discrimination abilities as neurotypical (i.e., do not have ADHD or history of a neurodevelopmental disorder). We hypothesized that adults with ADHD would have similar performance as neurotypical adults for simple rhythm detection, but, have weaker performance in discriminating complex rhythms. We further hypothesized that rhythm discrimination abilities would be correlated with ADHD self-reported symptoms as measured by the Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scales (CAARS). Forty-seven participants completed behavioral testing and a rhythm discrimination task (ADHD = 25, controls = 22). The two groups were similar on all speech, language, and cognitive measures, and only differed on measures of ADHD, which was expected. Results of the study indicate that adults with ADHD perform similarly for both simple and complex rhythm discrimination tasks. Interestingly, controls were found to have significant positive correlations for simple and complex rhythm discrimination accuracy as measured by d prime (d’), while no correlation was observed in the ADHD group. Additionally, the ADHD group exhibited a significant negative correlation between simple d’ scores and Impulsivity/Emotional Lability scores from the CAARS. Taken together, findings suggest that adults with ADHD may have similar rhythm discrimination abilities as neurotypical individuals. However, exploratory analysis of the results suggests that working memory skills in adults with ADHD may support rhythm detection abilities, thus allowing adults with ADHD to perform similarly to controls.