Off-task thought has been found to occur at high rates and is related to impairment in ADHD. However, off-task thought is heterogenous and it remains unclear which specific dimensions of off-task thought are more prevalent in this disorder. It is therefore important to dissociate different aspects of off-task thought in order to better understand the mechanisms underlying impairment. The current study focused on the dimension of constrained (focused) to freely moving off-task thought. Self-report and neurophysiological measures during a computerized attention tasks provided convergent evidence that individuals with ADHD not only have more off-task thought than those without, but also engaged in a greater proportion of freely moving off-task thought than non-ADHD controls. Overall, this work demonstrated differences in both the quantity and type of off-task thought in adults with ADHD. It provides novel insight into both the phenomenology of off-task thought, as well as potential mechanisms underlying impairment in ADHD.

已经发现任务外的想法发生率很高，并且与 ADHD 的损害有关。然而，任务外思维是异质的，目前尚不清楚任务外思维的哪些特定维度在这种疾病中更为普遍。因此，为了更好地理解损伤的机制，分离任务外思维的不同方面是很重要的。目前的研究集中在受约束（集中）到自由移动的非任务思维的维度上。计算机化注意力任务期间的自我报告和神经生理学测量提供了趋同的证据，表明患有 ADHD 的人不仅比没有多动症的人有更多的任务外思维，而且还从事更大比例的自由活动非多动症控制的任务外思维。总体而言，这项工作证明了患有 ADHD 的成年人在任务外思维的数量和类型方面存在差异。它为任务外思维的现象学以及 ADHD 损害的潜在机制提供了新的见解。