Seminar: Reward, punishment and parent management training for ADHD: a research to clinical practice gap?

Speaker: Gail Tripp, Human Developmental Neurobiology Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan.

Altered motivational processes are hypothesized to contribute to symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To date experimental and theoretical research has focused on sensitivity to positive reinforcement. The responsiveness of those with ADHD to punishment has received much less attention.

In this talk I address the question of why studying motivation in ADHD is important, before reviewing what is known about the sensitivity of children with ADHD to reward and punishment. This includes data from our studies with Japanese children, providing further evidence for altered motivational processes playing a role in the pathophysiology of ADHD. Next, I consider how these experimental findings can, and should, be incorporated into the behavioural management of ADHD. Which raises the question of whether there is a research to clinical practice gap in parent management training for families of children with ADHD.