Enhance the saliency of school and work tasks, and use intrinsically interesting activities to reinforce necessary but mundane behaviors, for learners with ADHD¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 6 claims (5 for, 1 mixed) · 8 studies (4 review, 2 quant-synthesis, 1 causal, 1 associational), q2–q4 · 2 of 8 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The authors recommend, on the basis of their findings and prior intervention work, that educators and clinicians use "interventions to enhance the saliency of school and work tasks to improve motivation and performance" in ADHD. One concrete tactic they name is using "intrinsically interesting activities (perhaps in areas where the individual shows talent and has successes) to reinforce mundane but necessary behaviors". This article itself tested no intervention; the recommendation rests on the motivation-deficit findings plus cited prior studies of motivational intervention and contingency management.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• identification of activities the individual learner finds intrinsically interesting or in which the learner shows talent and has successes
• tasks whose saliency can be raised or that can be paired with reinforcing activities

Constraints¶

• The article tested no intervention itself; it cites prior work showing motivational intervention and contingency management improve performance in ADHD patients

Target Learners¶

• adults with ADHD
• children with ADHD (by the authors' extrapolation)

Target Learning Goals¶

• improved motivation and performance on school and work tasks that are not inherently rewarding

Affordances¶

• Da Reward Pathway Hypofunction Adhd Motivation

Claims¶

• Adults with ADHD score lower on the MPQ Achievement scale, a surrogate trait measure of motivation, than controls [+W]
• In adults with ADHD, dopamine D2/D3 receptor and DAT availability in the reward pathway correlate positively with trait motivation [+W]
• Lower trait motivation scores in ADHD adults are associated with more severe inattention symptoms, but not hyperactivity [+W]
• Positive Emotionality correlates with midbrain D2/D3 receptor availability in ADHD adults, while Negative Emotionality and Constraint do not [+W]
• Expected tangible rewards reduce later free-choice engagement with a rewarded task, while verbal praise does not [~M]
• Learners invest more effort in tasks they perceive as interesting, personally important, or useful to their future goals. [+M]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Volkow ND, Wang GJ, Newcorn JH, Kollins SH, Wigal TL, Telang F, Fowler JS, Goldstein RZ, Klein N, Logan J, Wong C, Swanson JM. (2011). Motivation Deficit in ADHD is Associated with Dysfunction of the Dopamine Reward Pathway. Molecular Psychiatry 16(11). https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2010.97