As usual when there’s a new study about the specific difficulties that people with a given disability, disorder, or diagnosis face, people with ADHD are nodding in recognition of the latest news.
While it may be no surprise to those who endure it, studies recognizing this particular difficulty — impaired object recognition memory — could be key in diagnostics and the accessibility of accommodations.
Object recognition memory is precisely what it sounds like — the ability to identify whether the object in front of you is one you’ve seen before, or specifically the one you saw previously. When it’s tested, this involves tasks such as looking at an object and then picking it out of a group of other objects, which sounds pretty mundane — but in practice, it’s a much more serious skill.
Why Is Object Recognition Memory Important?
Without getting too technical, this skill set is vital not only in humans but in animal species for recognizing environmental cues — ranging from predators and inedible plants to social cues. One study (on how the skill presented in rodents, in this case) published in ScienceDirect described it this way:
“Recognition memory, or the ability to recognize the occurrence of a previous stimulus, is critical in guiding future behavior, as recognizing new environmental cues inform decisions affecting survival, feeding, mating and other critical functions.”
Recognition Memory In Humans
So, back to humans. For us, this could include recognizing the faces of people we’ve seen before, recognizing social cues, and expressing emotion. In academic settings, it could involve struggling with basic tasks that one’s peers handle more easily. In daily life, it can affect impulse control and the ability to follow a task through to completion.
Take a moment to think of how much of k-12 education centers around memorization — from learning the ABCs to putting letters of a study word in the right order on a spelling test to remembering state capitols and the years of major events in social studies and history class. When those skills come easily, one may not even recognize that they’re memorization skills — but when they don’t, children are held back, punished, or even shamed as though they chose to struggle.
One of the researchers on the latest meta-analysis, Francisco José Lobato‑Camacho, explained, according to PsyPost:
“[A] deficit in recognition memory can negatively influence your learning. Bearing in mind that recognition memory tests are an important part of the curriculum, it is logical to deduce that these people start at a disadvantage both in their learning and in their evaluation.”
Does Medication Help?
The study also examined the effects of medication on object recognition memory and expressed surprise at the results.
In short, the range of skill for those on medication was even more varied than for those without it — suggesting that there’s no consistent pattern showing that ADHD meds improve object recognition memory abilities.
In practice, this could mean that parents and educators set expectations higher once a child with ADHD is on medication, but that the meds are only helpful for some symptoms while missing others. Meanwhile, if a medication regimen does help other children with the same symptoms, the child could be left feeling like he’s the problem rather than a deficit in support and treatment.
Types Of Tests
The meta-analysis looked at studies that use two different types of tests. The first, which they call Type A, requires participants to look at an object, then at a group of objects, and locate the one they’ve already seen. The second, identified as Type B, shows multiple objects, and then the participant looks at another group of objects and defines what has been seen previously.
The results showed moderate impairment of or delay in this skill across the board, but they also showed that one of these tasks is more of a struggle for the ADHD brain than the other.
Participants consistently struggled more with Type A tasks, which researchers believe may be about additional irrelevant objects distracting from the single relevant one.
Practical Conclusions
So what does this all mean?
Most importantly, it means that if your kid with ADHD is doing homework and it seems to be taking forever because he can’t identify which state on the map is which or remember which formula to use to find the area of a triangle, it doesn’t mean he’s not trying or didn’t listen. It means that the recognition skill you take for granted in your brain works differently in his.
Hopefully, it could eventually mean better support for kids with ADHD and possibly even improved treatments for symptoms.
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