RESTING-STATE ELECTRODERMAL ACTIVITY IN ADULTS WITH AND WITHOUT ADHD

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

Second Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Barton, Michelle

Second Advisor

Skripnikov, Andrey

Area of Concentration

Psychology with Statistics

Abstract

A growing body of literature shows strong evidence for children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) exhibiting hypoarousal compared to neurotypical children. This research is supported in conditions where stimuli are present and at a resting-state. However, the research with adult ADHD is conflicting. Adults with ADHD have been shown to exhibit no difference, hypoarousal, and hyperarousal compared to neurotypical adults. Therefore, the present study aims to employ a resting-state analysis of electrodermal activity (arousal) between self-reporting adults with ADHD (n = 11) and without ADHD (n = 8). A self-report questionnaire was also utilized to quantify the participant’s ADHD symptoms. Participants were recorded at a resting-state for 5 min. Adults with ADHD were significant at a 0.10 significance level for exhibiting different mean EDA across 5 min (p = .09) than adults with ADHD. A significant positive correlation between adult ADHD self-report report survey scores and mean EDA was also found (p = .03). A generalized linear mixed-effects model was employed to better understand the relationship. This was useful in better controlling for participant intercept and slope differences. At the midpoint of the 5 min resting-state EDA recording, participants with ADHD had significantly higher mean EDA compared to those without ADHD. However, the residual diagnostics of both models suggest interpreting these results cautiously. Overall, the findings suggest that by analyzing resting-state EDA between ADHD and control participants there is high variance within the ADHD group. Yet the control participants exhibit a trend that follows the generalized linear mixed-effects model with greater fit.

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