Children with disruptive-mood-dysregulation disorder and ADHD process facial affect less efficiently than those with ADHD and healthy controls
Motivation and Emotion, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Publication Type: Article / Article
- Publication Date: 2026
- Doi Number: 10.1007/s11031-026-10253-2
- Journal Name: Motivation and Emotion
- Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, ABI/INFORM, Psycinfo, Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Social Science Premium Collection (ProQuest), Health Research Premium Collection (ProQuest), Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection (EBSCO), Sociology Database (ProQuest)
- Keywords: Affective processing, Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, Drift-diffusion model, Facial expressions
- Akdeniz University Affiliated: Yes
Abstract
Children with disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) and ADHD demonstrate difficulty attributing emotions to facial expressions. We investigated how facial emotion judgments are psycho-mechanistically altered in DMDD+ADHD (N = 18) compared to age-matched children with ADHD (N = 15) and healthy controls (HC; N = 19). The participants’ ages ranged between 6 and 15. Participants distinguished the valence of facial expressions when feedback was congruent versus incongruent. The DMDD+ADHD group exhibited difficulty in differentiating affective stimuli compared to the ADHD and HC groups. Drift-diffusion modelling revealed that the information-processing efficiency of children with DMDD+ADHD for angry faces was insensitive to the type of feedback. Notably, regardless of feedback type and facial expression valence, children with DMDD+ADHD exhibited reduced efficiency in integrating evidence compared to HCs. The ADHD group demonstrated greater efficiency in processing angry facial expressions with congruent feedback than the DMDD+ADHD group. These results demonstrate impaired decision processes in DMDD+ADHD, characterized by inefficient cue integration, specifically in response to negative emotional stimuli, and by the insensitivity of the DMDD+ADHD group’s performance to feedback type.