Where did the time go? Using time judgment tasks as a predictor for adult ADHD

When time flies, you’re not always having fun. Under the Attentional Gate Theory of time perception, the less attention allocated to a given period of time the shorter that length of time is perceived. Individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are thought to have difficulties with allocating their attentional resources, and thereby according to the Attentional Gate Theory would have disruptions in their subjective perceptions of time. The current study examined whether participants with ADHD would show differences from neurotypical participants in a time judgment task. There were two types of time judgment tasks used 1) Listening Task: participants sit and listen to a list of words 2) Phoneme Monitoring Task: participants listen to a list of words and must press the space bar when they hear a specified phoneme. The listening task looks at a participant’s perception of time when their attention is not actively allocated, while the phoneme monitoring task serves the opposite function. Results will be discussed in terms of Attentional Gate Theory, as well as any potentially clinical relevance for our time perception task outside of use in the laboratory.