Cognition at risk: Gestalt/feature-intensive processing, attention deficit, and substance abuse

Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is associated with elevated levels of substance abuse, but the cognitive linkages involved have been little explored. The present study builds upon earlier work showing that more gestalt, as opposed to feature-intensive, styles of processing are conducti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current Psychology 2005-06, Vol.24 (2), p.91-101
Main Authors: Sharps, Matthew J., Price-Sharps, Jana L., Day, Sandy Schulte, Nunes, Michael A, Villegas, Amy Boothby, Mitchell, Sandra
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictive behaviors
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Behavior
Cognition & reasoning
Decision making
Drug abuse
Heuristic
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Summary:Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is associated with elevated levels of substance abuse, but the cognitive linkages involved have been little explored. The present study builds upon earlier work showing that more gestalt, as opposed to feature-intensive, styles of processing are conductive to substance abuse, especially in those with ADHD symptoms. The work reported here indicates that a protective factor against substance abuse may lie in relatively efficient heuristic processing, especially synthetic or inferential heuristic processing, but further demonstrates that those with ADHD symptoms tend to have poorer abilities in this regard, even at the subclinical, nondiagnosed level. Results are discussed in terms of the gestalt/featureintensive processing theory of cognition.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0737-8262
1046-1310
1936-4733
DOI:10.1007/s12144-005-1008-7