Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms as a Function of Arousal and Executive Vigilance: Testing Halperin and Schulz’s Neurodevelopmental Model in a Sample of Community Adults

Abstract

Halperin and Schulz’s neurodevelopmental model postulates that the onset of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in childhood is due to subcortical alterations, whereas the disorder’s trajectory into adulthood depends on the development of executive functions. Based on a dimensional framework of ADHD, Coll-Martín et al. (2021) found support for the model in an adult community sample assessed on arousal and executive vigilance. The present study is a preregistered (https://osf.io/tkdq7) close replication of Coll-Martín et al. expressly aimed to test the two predictions of the model. A sample of college students (N = 292 valid; 49% women; 18–30 years, M = 21.7) from a Spanish university completed self-reports of ADHD symptoms in childhood (retrospectively) and adulthood and performed the online version of an attentional task (the ANTI-Vea). Our preregistered hypotheses achieved an acceptable statistical power for the effects of interest, even after accounting for random measurement error. Despite this, none of them replicated the findings of the original study: Only the unexpected negative correlation between executive vigilance and symptoms in childhood was significant, thereby not supporting the theoretical predictions. The lack of support for the dissociation pattern hypothesized by the neurodevelopmental model was robust to multiverse and exploratory analyses. At least in terms of vigilance, ADHD symptoms seem to share altered neurocognitive pathways across the lifespan, regardless of their time of onset. This challenges the notion of late-onset ADHD as a condition neuropsychologically distinct from child-onset ADHD. Future studies need to include complementary assessment methods and clinical groups.