Neuropsychological functioning of adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

The neuropsychological functioning of adults with Attention Deficit Hyperac tivity Disorder (ADHD) was compared to that of healthy controls and individ uals with mild psychiatric disorders including attentional complaints. Thir ty adults in each group were examined on the Conners' Continuous Performanc e Test (CPT) and measures of attention, executive function, psychomotor spe ed, and arithmetic skills. The ADHD group performed lower than healthy cont rols on most measures. However when compared to the psychiatric group, the performances of the ADHD group were not significantly lower on any of the m easures. The predictive power of the tests was poor in discriminating ADHD from psychiatric disorder. Implications for the clinical diagnosis of ADHD are discussed.