Abstract
We examined the longitudinal predictors of electrophysiological and behavioral markers of inhibitory control in adolescence. Participants were 63 adolescent boys who have been followed since birth as part of a prospective longitudinal study on the developmental pathways to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). At 17 years of age, they completed the stop-signal task (SST) while electroencephalography (EEG) was continuously recorded. Inhibitory control was evaluated by the stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) as well as by the amplitude of the event-related potential (ERP) component of N2 during successful inhibition. We found that higher inattention symptoms throughout childhood predicted reduced amplitude (i.e., less negative) of the N2 in adolescence. Furthermore, the N2 amplitude was longitudinally predicted by the early precursors of child familial risk for ADHD and early childhood temperament. Specifically, father’s inattention symptoms (measured in the child’s early infancy) and child’s effortful control at 36 months of age directly predicted the N2 amplitude in adolescence, even beyond the consistency of inattention symptoms throughout development. The SSRT was predicted by ADHD symptoms throughout childhood but not by the early precursors. Our findings emphasize the relevance of early familial and temperamental risk for ADHD to the prediction of a later dysfunction in inhibitory control.
Highlights
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is early-onset and a chronic neurodevelopmental disorder [1], with an estimated prevalence of 5% to 9% among school-age children [2,3]
Based on the literature and previous results from our longitudinal study [28], we hypothesized that: (1) behavioral and electrophysiological markers of inhibitory control in adolescence (i.e., stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) and the N2 amplitude) would be concurrently and longitudinally predicted by inattention symptoms, rather than by hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms and (2) higher parental inattention symptoms and lower levels of early childhood temperamental effortful control would predict longer SSRT and reduced N2 amplitude in adolescence. Given that both parental symptoms and early childhood effortful control were found to predict child/adolescent ADHD symptoms [52,55,67,72], we aimed to examine whether these early precursors would have a direct effect on the prediction of inhibitory control, above and beyond the development of child symptoms, or whether they would be indirectly associated with later inhibitory control, only through child inattention symptoms during development
Parental background variables and adolescent background variables did not correlate with any of the dependent variables, rs < 0.20, ps > 0.15, except for mother’s years of education, which had a marginally significant correlation with adolescents’ N2 amplitude at age 17 years, r = −0.25, p = 0.06; it was controlled in further analyses
Summary
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is early-onset and a chronic neurodevelopmental disorder [1], with an estimated prevalence of 5% to 9% among school-age children [2,3]. It is manifested by the behavioral symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, which interfere with day-to-day functioning [4]. Studying the developmental pathways of specific neurocognitive deficits that are associated with ADHD may be useful for the early identification of relatively homogeneous groups of children who may be at risk for particular outcomes
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