Audiovisual integration decreases inhibition of return in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Previous studies have widely demonstrated that inhibition of return (IOR) with audiovisual targets decreases due to audiovisual integration (AVI). It is currently unclear, however, whether the impaired AVI in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has effects on IOR. The present study used the cue-target paradigm to explore differences between the IOR of audiovisual targets and the IOR of visual targets in ADHD and typically developing (TD) children. The results showed that, there was a smaller magnitude of IOR with audiovisual targets as compared with visual targets in the two groups. Importantly, the reduction of IOR in audiovisual conditions was significantly smaller in children with ADHD than in children with TD. Race model analyses further confirmed that differences in IOR between ADHD and TD are due to deficits of audiovisual integration in ADHD. The results indicated that children with ADHD have impaired audiovisual integration, which has a minimal impact on IOR.