Attention Versus Memory: What’s the Difference?
Inattention Is a Common ADHD Symptom…
- Difficulty paying attention
- Forgetfulness
- Difficulty listening to others
- Problems paying attention with fine details
- Easily distracted
- Poor organizational skills
- Poor time management
Attention Versus Memory
ADHD and Memory Q & A
Below you can read our interview with Dr. Briscoe.
Q: How many people with ADHD struggle with memory?
ADHD typically does not affect long-term memory — one’s ability to recall memories from childhood, adolescence, and previous years.
- Attention
- Working Memory
Q: How does ADHD affect memory?
Q: How does memory work?
- If your boss sits you down to explain a 4-step process to complete a work assignment, the part of your brain responsible for “working memory” holds those four steps in your mind as he explains the details of the assignment.
- As you think through all the details of the assignment, the resources required to complete the processes involved, your working memory should retain the basic 4 steps as the “big picture.”
- Moreover, your working memory should also be working in full force to help you process the details of each step involved.
- As you listen to your boss, you are actively relying on your short-term working memory to recall the “big picture”, understand how the details of each step fit under your bosses’ primary objectives for the project, and analyze all the information as you think through all the various processes involved in completing the project.
You didn’t “forget.” You were not “lazy.” Rather, your working memory is not the same as it is in the average population and it affected your performance.
Q: How can memory be improved?
Your Next Steps
About Dr. Briscoe
Tweens, Teens and ADHD
Many children diagnosed with ADHD in Elementary School who are responding well to treatment may hit a few “bumps” during Middle School and High School.
Tweens, particularly girls, may suddenly stop responding to their medication, or may have symptoms that their dose is too high, even though they have been stable on the same medication and dose for years. This is often due to the hormonal changes occurring at this age, in conjunction with their brain development, which is still ongoing.
Sometimes in middle school, and more often in high school, teens will decide to stop taking their medicine. For a few, this is successful, especially if they have ADHD coaching to help them develop organizational skills and other tools to keep them on task. More often, however, the teen’s performance will decline, or they will start getting in trouble more often.
Untreated or undertreated ADHD in teens can be very detrimental, as it has been shown to lead to early experimentation with illicit drugs and/or alcohol (“self-medicating”), higher risk of teen pregnancy (for teen or their partner), and higher risk of run-ins with the law (i.e. speeding tickets, drunk driving).
Our physicians and counselors will work with you and your tween or teen to help navigate this transitional period, provide appropriate treatment and support that engages your youth in their own care, and provide additional resources for ADHD coaching and other behavioral interventions to help them succeed now, and as they leave for college and young adult life.
Contact our team via this form, or simply call our office at (502) 907-5908.
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