Attentional Bias

Attentional bias is a psychological phenomenon that explains a person’s tendency to pay more attention to some stimuli than others. This bias can significantly influence people’s perceptions and actions since they are more likely to be influenced by what they focus on most.

Attentional bias and ADHD are distinct concepts within the fields of psychology and neuroscience, but they have a significant degree of correlation. Individuals with ADHD may exhibit attentional biases, but these are not the cause of the disorder but rather a feature of how their attention has become dysregulated. For example, a child with ADHD might display an attentional bias toward immediately rewarding stimuli such as video games or exciting activities over non-stimulating, sustained tasks like homework or chores. This tendency isn’t the same as an innate bias where a person’s perception is unconsciously directed by their interests and past experiences.

Examples of the relationship between ADHD and attentional bias include:

• Selective attention, meaning people with ADHD have difficulty filtering out irrelevant stimuli. This can resemble an attentional bias because it focuses on certain stimuli over others. Still, it is due to the ADHD individual’s difficulties in attention control rather than the emotional or cognitive influences that typically cause attentional biases.
• Salience of stimuli refers to how much a piece of information stands out and captures a person’s attention. In ADHD, stimuli that are more salient because they are rewarding or novel can create a kind of attentional bias because the ADHD brain is particularly responsive to these stimuli.
• Deficits in executive function include challenges with planning, control of inhibitions, and working memory. 
• Emotional dysregulation can occur when individuals with ADHD also experience emotional dysregulation, which can influence attentional bias. For example, if a student with ADHD and co-occurring emotional regulation difficulties is anxious, an attentional bias toward threat-related stimuli can make it even harder for them to focus on studying.