Sustained attention plays a critical role in reading comprehension of adults with and without ADHD

Dorit Segal

doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2023.102300

Sustained attention plays a critical role in reading comprehension of adults with and without ADHD

Dorit Segal

Education discipline

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Purpose: The study aims to examine whether individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have reading comprehension difficulties, and if they do, which cognitive abilities underlie these difficulties. It focuses on the role of sustained attention in reading comprehension. Method: Fifty adults with ADHD and 57 participants without ADHD performed tasks of short-term memory, vocabulary, and sustained attention, as well as a task of reading comprehension. Results: The two groups did not differ in short-term memory or vocabulary, but participants with ADHD received lower scores on both the sustained attention and the reading comprehension tasks compared to participants without ADHD. In addition, a regression analysis in which group was entered first and then scores on the cognitive tests showed that only sustained attention predicted reading comprehension. Conclusions: The findings suggest that sustained attention is critical for reading comprehension and thus it should be incorporated into theoretical models of reading comprehension.

Original language	English
Article number	102300
Journal	Learning and Individual Differences
Volume	105
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2023.102300
State	Published - Jul 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The manuscript contains original data that have not been published previously and it is not currently submitted elsewhere. Research reported in this manuscript complies with Institutional ethics requirements that follow American Psychological Association ethical standards. The study received funding from The Open University.

Funding Information:
I thank Yael Ghitza, Nameer Kaddi, Rachel Epstein, and Ilana Vinizky for their valuable help in programming and data collection and preparation. I also thank the Open University of Israel for its funding. ☆ The manuscript contains original data that have not been published previously and it is not currently submitted elsewhere. Research reported in this manuscript complies with Institutional ethics requirements that follow American Psychological Association ethical standards. The study received funding from The Open University.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Inc.

Keywords

ADHD
Reading comprehension
Short-term memory
Sustained attention
Vocabulary

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10.1016/j.lindif.2023.102300

Cite this

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title = "Sustained attention plays a critical role in reading comprehension of adults with and without ADHD",

abstract = "Purpose: The study aims to examine whether individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have reading comprehension difficulties, and if they do, which cognitive abilities underlie these difficulties. It focuses on the role of sustained attention in reading comprehension. Method: Fifty adults with ADHD and 57 participants without ADHD performed tasks of short-term memory, vocabulary, and sustained attention, as well as a task of reading comprehension. Results: The two groups did not differ in short-term memory or vocabulary, but participants with ADHD received lower scores on both the sustained attention and the reading comprehension tasks compared to participants without ADHD. In addition, a regression analysis in which group was entered first and then scores on the cognitive tests showed that only sustained attention predicted reading comprehension. Conclusions: The findings suggest that sustained attention is critical for reading comprehension and thus it should be incorporated into theoretical models of reading comprehension.",

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author = "Dorit Segal",

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AB - Purpose: The study aims to examine whether individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have reading comprehension difficulties, and if they do, which cognitive abilities underlie these difficulties. It focuses on the role of sustained attention in reading comprehension. Method: Fifty adults with ADHD and 57 participants without ADHD performed tasks of short-term memory, vocabulary, and sustained attention, as well as a task of reading comprehension. Results: The two groups did not differ in short-term memory or vocabulary, but participants with ADHD received lower scores on both the sustained attention and the reading comprehension tasks compared to participants without ADHD. In addition, a regression analysis in which group was entered first and then scores on the cognitive tests showed that only sustained attention predicted reading comprehension. Conclusions: The findings suggest that sustained attention is critical for reading comprehension and thus it should be incorporated into theoretical models of reading comprehension.

KW - ADHD

KW - Reading comprehension

KW - Short-term memory

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KW - Vocabulary

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Sustained attention plays a critical role in reading comprehension of adults with and without ADHD

Abstract

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