Abstract
Performance deficits and diminished brain activity during cognitive control and error processing are frequently reported in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), indicating a “top-down” deficit in executive attention. So far, these findings are almost exclusively based on the processing of static visual forms, neglecting the importance of visual motion processing in everyday life as well as important attentional and neuroanatomical differences between processing static forms and visual motion. For the current study, we contrasted performance and electrophysiological parameters associated with cognitive control from two Flanker-Tasks using static stimuli and moving random dot patterns. Behavioral data and event-related potentials were recorded from 16 boys with ADHD (combined type) and 26 controls (aged 8–15 years). The ADHD group showed less accuracy especially for moving stimuli, and prolonged response times for both stimulus types. Analyses of electrophysiological parameters of cognitive control revealed trends for diminished N2-enhancements and smaller error-negativities (indicating medium effect sizes), and we detected significantly lower error positivities (large effect sizes) compared to controls, similarly for both static and moving stimuli. Taken together, the study supports evidence that motion processing is not fully developed in childhood and that the cognitive control deficit in ADHD is of higher order and independent of stimulus type.
Highlights
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common early-onset neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized by severe and age-inappropriate levels of pervasive inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity that occurs in about 5% of school-aged children with a strong overrepresentation of boys (APA, 2013; Polanczyk et al, 2015)
Mean Reaction Times of Correct Responses Reaction times (RT, see Figure 2A) are significantly slower in the attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) group [Group: F(1,40) = 9.4, p < 0.01, η2p = 0.20]. Both groups show Congruency effects, i.e., incongruent items led to longer reaction times compared to congruent items for both tasks [Congruency: F(1,40) = 125.4, p < 0.01, η2p = 0.76], which marginally differ between ADHD and Controls [Congruency × Group: F(1,40) = 2.7, p = 0.11, η2p = 0.06, Stimulus × Congruency × Group: F(1,40) = 1.6, p = 0.21, η2p = 0.04]
Previous studies have documented cognitive control deficits in ADHD with Flanker- or Go/Nogo tasks based on processing static visual forms and after performance errors (Jonkman et al, 2007; Albrecht et al, 2008; McLoughlin et al, 2009; Mullane et al, 2009), but very little is known about cognitive control during visual motion processing, this ability is a critical core ability of primate visual systems
Summary
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common early-onset neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized by severe and age-inappropriate levels of pervasive inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity that occurs in about 5% of school-aged children with a strong overrepresentation of boys (APA, 2013; Polanczyk et al, 2015). The current study dwells on cognitive and self-regulation difficulties, probably associated with dysfunctions in fronto-striatal dopaminergic networks that lead to deficits in executive functions in general and cognitive control in particular (Pennington and Ozonoff, 1996; Barkley, 1997; Sergeant, 2005; Sonuga-Barke, 2005; Cortese et al, 2012). Cognitive control comes into play when task demands or performance errors require rapid adaptation. This can be tapped by the Eriksen Flanker Task, which is a demanding paradigm that requires responding to a target stimulus in the presence of competing distractors (Eriksen and Eriksen, 1974). Children with ADHD typically display several performance deficits during such tasks, e.g., their responses tend to be slower, more variable and more error-prone (Mullane et al, 2009)
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