Free Critical Thinking About Positive

Summary

The paper looks at attention deficit and hyperactivity cases arguing that earlier presuppositions that the illness disappears with age is not correct. It begins by giving evidence that shows that in most of the cases, 70%, ADHD persists into adulthood. The disease whose prevalence rate in the United States stands at 4.4% and 3.4% in other parts of the world causes occupational difficulties and lowers the socioeconomic status of the affected greatly. In addition, ADHD cases experience economic hurdles caused by the financial burden brought about by the disease. The introduction section explains that ADHD affects the prefrontal/frontal areas that allow regulation, execution, inhibition, and planning of behavior. Over the years, studies have concentrated on studies of the frontal lobes comparing the working memory of affected individuals to nonaffected peers.
The paper presents literature review of two studies in the same area – executive functioning in ADHD affected adults, suggesting that the neuropsychological deficits seen in children with ADHD persist in later stages of life including adulthood. The studies especially assert that issues regarding short-term memory and verbal memory continue to be present even in adult stages. However, the literature review on the impact of ADHD on long term memory is limited, and the aspects of short term memory shown to be impacted by ADHD in the studies are STM and WM. The paper does not document extensive literature review as one would expect in a scientific studies of its nature.
The paper documents the methodology used by the researchers and presents the findings that emanate from their inquiry. The study examined 37 respondents (ADHD =21, HC =16) through phonological (PH) and visuospatial (VS) tasks that elucidate the capacities of working memory. Comparison with health cohorts (HC) illuminated the impact of ADHD on working memory. Findings show that those with ADHD have deficits in their working memory modalities. Further, adults with ADHD depicted difficulties in recalling PH and VS cues as the demands to do so increase. Importantly, the study proved that ADHD affects memory past the childhood stage and those affected by the illness are also impacted in their adulthood stage.

Analysis

The paper conducts a thorough research that focuses on the impacts of ADHD during adulthood. The paper begins with a succinct research objective and claim; that the effects of ADHD do not disappear with age, but they persist in most of the cases. It follows the research objective and research question with relevant literature review that helps in identifying the gaps. There is limited research in the line of psychology. Additionally, the research employs a robust methodology and selects appropriate variables that will identify the validity of the research claims. Proper analysis is conducted using robust statistical methods, and the output can be trusted.

Negative

The research focuses on a small number of respondents, and one may argue that more studies on larger samples are needed to verify the findings of the study. In addition to that, smaller samples are susceptible to Type II errors, and this study falls under that vulnerability owing to the low number of participants. Moreover, the study does not specify gender representation and one cannot make inferences based on the same. The conclusion is not well put and instead an exhaustive discussion that does not pinpoint the exact findings is absent.
If I were in this research, I would suggest a larger sample to ensure that the results of the study are an accurate reflection of the picture as it is for ADHD affected adults. Further, I would be interested in knowing about the impact of ADHD on the memory of both male and female participants. Finally, I would have also recommended assessing other features of ADHD other than memory to identify whether all the characteristics of the illness persist as one transition to adulthood.

Works Cited

Alderson, R Matt et al. “Working Memory Deficits in Adults with Attention-
Deficit/hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): An Examination of Central Executive and Storage/rehearsal Processes.” Journal of abnormal psychology 122.2 (2013): 532–41.