ScienceDirect - Neuroscience Letters : Electrophysiological evidence of enhanced distractibility in ADHD children

Neuroscience Letters
Volume 374, Issue 3, 21 February 2005, Pages 212-217

Font Size:

Abstract - selected

Article Toolbox

E-mail Article

Add to my Quick Links

Bookmark and share in 2collab (opens in new window)

Request permission to reuse this article

Cited By in Scopus (12)

Related Articles in ScienceDirect

Changes of the brain electrical fields during the conti...
Clinical Neurophysiology

Validity of the parenting scale for parents of children...
Behaviour Research and Therapy

Abnormal Brain Activity Related to Performance Monitori...
Cortex

Changes in event-related potentials with stimulant medi...
Biological Psychology

When distraction is not distracting: A behavioral and E...
Clinical Neurophysiology

View More Related Articles

View Record in Scopus

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2004.10.081

Electrophysiological evidence of enhanced distractibility in ADHD children

References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article.

V. Gumenyuk^a^,^,, O. Korzyukov^a^,^b, C. Escera^c, M. Hämäläinen^d, M. Huotilainen^a^,^e^,^f, T. Häyrinen^d, H. Oksanen^d, R. Näätänen^a^,^e, L. von Wendt^d and K. Alho^g

^aCognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

^bDepartment of Psychiatry, Yale University and VA-Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA

^cCognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

^dDepartment of Child Neurology, Hospital for Children and Adolescents, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

^eHelsinki Brain Research Centre, Helsinki, Finland

^fCollegium of Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland

^gDepartment of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Received 28 June 2004;

revised 14 October 2004;

accepted 21 October 2004.

Available online 24 November 2004.

Abstract

Abnormal involuntary attention leading to enhanced distractibility may account for different behavioral and cognitive problems in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This was investigated in the present experiment by recording event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to distracting novel sounds during performance of a visual discrimination task. The overall performance in the visual task was less accurate in the ADHD children than in the control children, and the ADHD children had a higher number of omitted responses following novel sounds. In both groups, the distracting novel sounds elicited a biphasic P3a ERP component and a subsequent frontal Late Negativity (LN). The early phase of P3a (180–240 ms) had significantly smaller amplitudes over the fronto-central left-hemisphere recording sites in the ADHD children than in the control group presumably due to an overlapping enhanced left-hemisphere dominant negative ERP component elicited in the ADHD group. Moreover, the late phase of P3a (300–350 ms) was significantly larger over the left parietal scalp areas in the ADHD children than in the controls. The LN had a smaller amplitude and shorter latency over the frontal scalp in the ADHD group than in the controls. In conclusion, the ERP and behavioral effects caused by the novel sounds reveal deficient control of involuntary attention in ADHD children that may underlie their abnormal distractibility.

Keywords: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Distraction; Children; Orienting; P3a; Reorienting negativity (LN/RON)