Motivation, Kognition, Belohnung, Aufmerksamkeits-Defizit-Syndrom, Dopamin, ADHS, Verzögerungsaversion, Impulsivität, ADHD, Delay Aversion, Impulsivity Along with a growth of neuroimaging findings pointing to dysfunctions in complex cortical networks in subjects with ADHD, disorder-specific models of ADHD increased in their complexity. Whereas early models assumed specific core deficits, particularly cognitive and motor inhibition deficits, to be the cause of ADHD (Barkley, 1997; Quay, 1997), current models of the disorder take this complexity into account by emphasizing its multi-factorial genesis. Apart from executive dysfunctions, these models emphasize the significance of motivational processes in shaping the clinical phenotype of the disorder (Nigg & Casey, 2005; Sagvolden, Johansen, Aaase, & Russell, 2005; Sergeant, 2000; Sonuga-Barke, 2002). One of these models, the delay aversion hypothesis, which was extended to a comprehensive theoretical model in the course of years (Dual Pathway Model; Sonuga-Barke, 2002; 2005), assumes that children with ADHD, when compared with typically developing children, have a stronger than normal motivational tendency to avoid delays in the course of actions and rather prefer immediate consequences of their actions in order to avoid waiting periods which they perceive as aversive. Since the formulation of the delay aversion hypothesis, increased delay aversion has been demonstrated in a variety of studies in children and adolescents with ADHD. The current doctoral studies build on the delay aversion hypothesis by asking three global questions: (1) is delay aversion exclusively a ...
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