Autobiographical memory in ADHD subtypes

Background Episodic autobiographical memory (EAM) has not been extensively investigated in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The objective of this study was to examine EAM in school age children with ADHD in reference to the encoding period: recent memories (previous school years) and remote memories (first years of life). Methods A sample of 29 children with ADHD and 29 typically developing children, matched for age and gender, completed a questionnaire to assess EAM. These participants were recruited from an initial sample of 572 participants. Developmental differences in accessing and recalling specific personal events and episodic details in groups with ADHD were predicted. Results The control group showed a typical trend of EAM with fewer remote and episodic memories than recent ones. The ADHD groups showed a general EAM deficit. More precisely, the ADHD-I group performed equally poorly on remote and recent episodic autobiographical memories, whereas the ADHD-C group showed a higher number of remote episodic autobiographical memories than recent ones. Conclusions The findings suggest that EAM can be impaired in children with ADHD. Clinical and medicolegal implications of these results and the relation between age and childhood amnesia are discussed.