Study of ADHD Children's Sensitivity to Memory Error Production (TDAH-DRM)

The purpose of the study is to test whether children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are more susceptible to false memory production using a DRM paradigm. The number of "critical decoy production" errors will be analyzed and compared to the calibration of the test.

During a neuropsychological assessment, as part of the clinical routine, children with a diagnosis of ADHD, without neurological etiology, aged 8 to 10 years will be offered an additional task. This task, a DRM adapted to the child, consists of learning several lists of words. Each list exposes words belonging to the same lexical field, to a concept not explicitly mentioned in the list, called critical lure. Immediately after the presentation of a list, the child is asked to recall as many words as possible. Recall of the critical lure gives an indication of the production of false memories. The number of critical lures produced by these children will be compared to the calibration of the test, currently being published. The investigator will also verify if the production of critical lures can be correlated with other variables such as performance on intellectual, executive and attentional tasks, proposed during the clinical routine assessment. The investigator hypothesize that ADHD children will recall more critical lures than the norm, and fewer correct responses than the norm. The data collected is taken from the child's psychological file. The only personal information used, beyond test performance, is the child's gender and age. The procedure is anonymous.

Eight lists of nine words are presented to the participants. Each list is heard once. Immediately afterwards, the child is asked to recall the words he or she remembers. Each child's response is then repeated one by one and the participant is asked to rate his or her confidence in the response on a five-point scale (from "not at all sure" to "100% sure"). A 5-minute break is given in the middle of the task, after the first four lists are presented. The test takes about 20 minutes.

Inclusion Criteria: Age between 96 and 131 months Child referred by a doctor for a neuropsychological assessment Child with ADHD diagnosis Sufficient command of the French language Non-opposition of the child and his/her parents Exclusion Criteria: Severe psychiatric comorbidity: major depressive episode, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, autism spectrum disorder Major neurological history: severe head trauma, stroke, severe epilepsy, brain tumor Repeating a class during school Presence of an intellectual disability Use of methylphenidate treatment less than 48 hours before the experiment Completion of an intellectual assessment using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V) dated less than one year before the meeting