Response-locked brain potentials on children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a very common and highly heritable child psychiatric disorder, which is characterized by age-inappropriate levels of hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity.The aim of the study was to investigate whether children with ADHD shows diminished error-related brain activity, especially while processing moving as compared to static visual stimuli. The children had to solve cognitive tasks (flanker- and motion-tasks) while EEG has been recorded. By using event-related potentials (ERPs), the response-locked brain activity measures Ne and Pe has as well as behavioural parameters (reaction time, intra-individual reaction time-variability) have been investigated. In this study 16 boys with ICD-10 diagnose F 90.0 and also 26 healthy children with an age-range of 8 to 15 years have been included. Children with ADHD showed significantly increased psychopathological problems and prolonged reaction time and higher intra-individual reaction time variability. Group differences in motion compared to static stimuli processing were not found. Response locked ERPs showed significant impairments of Ne and Pe in the ADHD-group.These results indicate that children with ADHD may have a impairment in cognitive control and executive functions. Further studies suggest that these parameters reflect endophenotypes for ADHD. Future studies are needed to investigate the genetic and pathophsiological background.