Abstract
This study characterizes a large sample of adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and healthy controls regarding their task performance and neurophysiology; cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Self-reported symptoms, behavioral measures, and event-related potentials from a classical cued Go/NoGo task were used to outline the symptom burden, executive function deficits and neurophysiological features, and the associations between these domains. The study participants (N = 210 ADHD, N = 158 controls, age: 18–62 years) were assessed five (ADHD) or three (controls) times over two years. We describe cross-sectional and longitudinal group differences, and associations between symptom burden, and behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) components variables by latent growth curve models, including random slopes and intercepts. The ADHD group showed increased reaction time variability, increased commission and omission errors, and attenuated cueP3, CNV, N2d, and P3d amplitudes. We observed a decrease in self-reported symptoms in the ADHD group over the two years. The behavioral measures (reaction time variability, number of omission, and commission errors) did not change over time, whereas the cueP3, P3d, and N2d amplitude attenuated in both groups. There was no evidence for a robust association between symptom burden and behavioral or ERP measures. The changes in the ERP components with stable task performance, potentially indicate more efficient neuronal processing over the two years. Whether the lack of association between symptom burden and behavioral or ERP measures might be due to the low reliability of the ADHD assessment criteria, or the inappropriateness of the objective measures cannot be inferred.
Highlights
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosed based on the clinical examination
We looked at the amplitudes and latencies of four previously described and commonly used event-related potential (ERP) components in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) research: cueP3, contingent negative variation (CNV), N2d, and P3d (Grane et al, 2016; Müller et al, 2019; Ponomarev et al, 2019; Kaiser et al, 2020)
For the longitudinal descriptions of the dependent variables, we described the change over time within the control group and the potential distinctive pattern observed in the ADHD group
Summary
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosed based on the clinical examination. The symptoms are currently assessed and quantified based on the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). According to the DSM-5, individuals with ADHD “demonstrate a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity interfering with functioning or development.”. The manifestation of the disorder can be assigned to one of three categories: predominantly inattentive presentation, predominantly hyperactive/impulsive presentation or as combined presentation (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Symptoms for inattention and hyperactivity and impulsivity are listed and evaluated separately. Symptoms listed in the inattention domain are for example: “. Symptoms listed in the hyperactivity and impulsivity domain are for example: “. The diagnosis by DSM-5 is based on the number of observable symptoms. The overall symptom burden is mostly quantified by the number of symptoms and their frequency of occurrence in daily life (van Lieshout et al, 2019; Nylander et al, 2021)
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