Abstract
Problems in inhibitory control are regarded in Psychology as a key problem associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They, however, might not be primary deficits, but instead a consequence of inattention. At least two components have been identified and dissociated in studies in regards to inhibitory control: interference suppression, responsible for controlling interference by resisting irrelevant or misleading information, and response inhibition, referring to withholding a response or overriding an ongoing behavior. Poor error awareness and self-monitoring undermine an individual’s ability to inhibit inadequate responses and change course of action. In non-social contexts, an individual depends on his own cognition to regulate his mistakes. In social contexts, however, there are many social cues that should help that individual to perceive his mistakes and inhibit inadequate responses. The processes involved in perceiving and interpreting those social cues are arguably part of a self-protection system (SPS). Individuals with ADHD not only present impulsive behaviors in social contexts, but also have difficulty perceiving their inadequate responses and overriding ongoing actions toward more appropriate ones. In this paper, we discuss that those difficulties are arguably a consequence of an impaired SPS, due to visual attention deficits and subsequent failure in perceiving and recognizing accurately negative emotions in facial expressions, especially anger. We discuss evidence that children with ADHD exhibit problems in a series of components involved in the activation of that system and advocate that the inability to identify the anger expressed by others, and thus, not experiencing the fear response that should follow, is, ultimately, what prevents them from inhibiting the ongoing inappropriate behavior, since a potential threat is not registered. Getting involved in high-risk situations, such as reckless driving, could also be a consequence of not registering a threat and thus, not experiencing fear.
Highlights
We discuss evidence that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit problems in a series of components involved in the activation of that system and advocate that the inability to identify the anger expressed by others, and not experiencing the fear response that should follow, is, what prevents them from inhibiting the ongoing inappropriate behavior, since a potential threat is not registered
We argue that an impaired selfprotection system (ISPS) is what causes perseverance of improper behaviors related to impulsivity/hyperactivity in individuals with ADHD
In an attempt to unify all of these aspects, we developed the “Impaired Self-Protection System” (ISPS) hypothesis, which explains response inhibition deficits in social contexts, why individuals with ADHD seem unable to regulate their inadequate behavior even in the presence of disapproving social cues
Summary
Human communication is multimodal, occurring through different channels of communication, such as facial and corporal expressions, speech, and prosody [42]. An angry face can be tracked much faster in a crowd of neutral faces, in comparison to a happy face [77,78,79,80,81,82] This shows that, under normal circumstances, individuals tend to prioritize anger to the detriment of other emotions, and its identification triggers fear, which is critical to behavioral control [83]. The probable cause for this is that anger is an emotion strongly associated with the intention of causing harm to something or someone, and the sooner identified, the better it is concerning survival fitness This phenomenon is called the “Anger Superiority Effect” and occurs both in children and adults [84]. Pharmacological treatment with methylphenidate helps normalize the HPA alteration in children with ADHD [96]
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