ABSTRACT

Objective: Although impaired time perception is associated with significant disturbance in the everyday functioning of adult patients with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), it is not very well studied. The present study aimed to evaluate both visual and auditory time reproduction (TR) by using eight time intervals in adult ADHD patients compared to healthy controls (HC).

Method: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-R (WAIS-R), Adult Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder Self-Report Scale (ASRS), Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS), Hyperfocusing Scale (HS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and a 2-back task were administered to participants. In TR tasks, participants reproduced the same duration of the auditory/visual stimulus by pressing a key and absolute discrepancy scores (ADS) were calculated. A 2 (Group) x 2 (Task Modality) x 8 (Time Interval: 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000, 12000 and 16000 msec) mixed-design ANOVA was performed.

Results: All clinical scores of ADHD group were higher than HC (p < .001) while WAIS-R and 2-back performances of the groups were similar. Mixed-design ANOVA yielded significant Group and Time Interval main effects as well as a Group X Time Interval effect (both p < .001). ADHD patients had larger ADS than HC and as time intervals increased, error levels increased. Errors for time intervals >8000 msec were more prominent in patients. For both TR tasks, ASRS-hyperactivity/impulsivity scores were the main predictor of ADS in the linear regression analysis, while ASRS-attention deficit and HS scores were excluded.

Conclusion: Results of the present study indicate significant TR impairment in adult ADHD regardless of task modality (visual or auditory), depressive symptoms and working memory performances. Longer time intervals in TR tasks differentiated patients better and TR impairment was associated with hyperactivity/impulsivity. These findings should be replicated in larger samples and underlying neurobiological components of impaired TR need to be examined in future research.

摘要

目的：虽然时间感知障碍与注意力缺陷多动障碍 (ADHD) 成年患者的日常功能严重紊乱有关，但尚未得到很好的研究。本研究旨在通过使用成人 ADHD 患者与健康对照 (HC) 的八个时间间隔来评估视觉和听觉时间再现 (TR)。

方法：韦克斯勒成人智力量表-R (WAIS-R)、成人注意力缺陷多动障碍自我报告量表 (ASRS)、温德犹他评定量表 (WURS)、过度专注量表 (HS)、贝克抑郁量表 (BDI) 和对参与者进行了 2-back 任务。在 TR 任务中，参与者通过按键重现相同持续时间的听觉/视觉刺激，并计算绝对差异分数 (ADS)。执行了 2（组）x 2（任务模式）x 8（时间间隔：500、1000、2000、4000、6000、8000、12000 和 16000 毫秒）混合设计方差分析。

结果： ADHD 组的所有临床评分均高于 HC（p < .001），而各组的 WAIS-R 和 2-back 表现相似。混合设计方差分析产生了显着的组和时间间隔主效应以及组 X 时间间隔效应（均 p < .001）。ADHD 患者的 ADS 比 HC 大，随着时间间隔的增加，错误水平也增加。时间间隔 >8000 毫秒的误差在患者中更为突出。对于这两项 TR 任务，ASRS-多动/冲动评分是线性回归分析中 ADS 的主要预测因子，而 ASRS-注意力缺陷和 HS 评分被排除在外。

结论：本研究的结果表明，无论任务方式（视觉或听觉）、抑郁症状和工作记忆表现如何，成人 ADHD 都会出现明显的 TR 损伤。TR 任务中较长的时间间隔可以更好地区分患者，并且 TR 损伤与多动/冲动相关。这些发现应该在更大的样本中复制，并且需要在未来的研究中检查受损 TR 的潜在神经生物学成分。