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New Advances in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

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A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Developmental Neuroscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2020) | Viewed by 41216

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Dr. Maddie Groom

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Guest Editor

Division of Psychiatry & Applied Psychology, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2TU, UK
Interests: ADHD; autism spectrum disorder; electrophysiology; neuroimaging; cognitive psychology; neurodevelopmental disorders

Dr. Elizabeth Shephard

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Guest Editor

(1). Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Pk, London SE5 8AF, UK;
(2). School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, R. Dr. Ovídio Pires de Campos, 785 Cerqueira César, São Paulo, SP, 05403-903, Brazil
Interests: ADHD; neurophysiology; neurocognitive development; functional connectivity; autism; infancy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common and enduring neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by difficulties with inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity. The condition affects around 5% of children and 3% of adults worldwide and is associated with reduced educational and occupational attainment, increased risk of physical and mental health problems and increased rates of criminality and substance misuse. Pharmacological treatments are available but are not universally effective or well-tolerated. Further research is needed to improve our understanding of the causes of this complex, heterogeneous condition and to develop more effective treatments.

ADHD likely reflects complex interactions between multiple low-risk genetic variants and environmental factors. Evidence of alterations in the function and structure of the brain gives some indication of the neuropathology of the condition and offers hope for the development of biomarkers to aid diagnosis and guide treatment development. Further research is needed, however, to better characterise the pathology of the condition, including the co-occurrence of ADHD with other neurodevelopmental disorders, and to accelerate the development of more effective therapies.

This Special Issue of Brain Sciences will present recent advances in the field of ADHD, focussing in particular on research that seeks to clarify the pathology of the condition (including co-occurrence with other disorders), to identify therapeutic targets or to assess treatment efficacy.

Dr. Maddie Groom
Dr. Elizabeth Shephard
Guest Editors

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Keywords

ADHD
Cognitive neuroscience
Treatment
Neuroimaging
Electrophysiology

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 2645 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Behavioural Measures of Infant Activity but Not Attention Associate with Later Preschool ADHD Traits

by Amy Goodwin, Alexandra Hendry, Luke Mason, Tessel Bazelmans, Jannath Begum Ali, Greg Pasco, Tony Charman, Emily J. H. Jones, Mark H. Johnson and The BASIS/STAARS Team

Brain Sci. 2021, 11(5), 524; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11050524 - 21 Apr 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5066

Abstract

Mapping infant neurocognitive differences that precede later ADHD-related behaviours is critical for designing early interventions. In this study, we investigated (1) group differences in a battery of measures assessing aspects of attention and activity level in infants with and without a family history of ADHD or related conditions (ASD), and (2) longitudinal associations between the infant measures and preschool ADHD traits at 3 years. Participants (N = 151) were infants with or without an elevated likelihood for ADHD (due to a family history of ADHD and/or ASD). A multi-method assessment protocol was used to assess infant attention and activity level at 10 months of age that included behavioural, cognitive, physiological and neural measures. Preschool ADHD traits were measured at 3 years of age using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and the Child Behaviour Questionnaire (CBQ). Across a broad range of measures, we found no significant group differences in attention or activity level at 10 months between infants with and without a family history of ADHD or ASD. However, parent and observer ratings of infant activity level at 10 months were positively associated with later preschool ADHD traits at 3 years. Observable behavioural differences in activity level (but not attention) may be apparent from infancy in children who later develop elevated preschool ADHD traits. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD))

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36 pages, 12957 KiB

Open AccessArticle

EEG Data Quality: Determinants and Impact in a Multicenter Study of Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

by Anna Kaiser, Pascal-M. Aggensteiner, Martin Holtmann, Andreas Fallgatter, Marcel Romanos, Karina Abenova, Barbara Alm, Katja Becker, Manfred Döpfner, Thomas Ethofer, Christine M. Freitag, Julia Geissler, Johannes Hebebrand, Michael Huss, Thomas Jans, Lea Teresa Jendreizik, Johanna Ketter, Tanja Legenbauer, Alexandra Philipsen, Luise Poustka, Tobias Renner, Wolfgang Retz, Michael Rösler, Johannes Thome, Henrik Uebel-von Sandersleben, Elena von Wirth, Toivo Zinnow, Sarah Hohmann, Sabina Millenet, Nathalie E. Holz, Tobias Banaschewski, Daniel Brandeis and on behalf of the ESCAlife-Consortium Show full author list Hide full author list

Brain Sci. 2021, 11(2), 214; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11020214 - 10 Feb 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3494

Abstract

Electroencephalography (EEG) represents a widely established method for assessing altered and typically developing brain function. However, systematic studies on EEG data quality, its correlates, and consequences are scarce. To address this research gap, the current study focused on the percentage of artifact-free segments after standard EEG pre-processing as a data quality index. We analyzed participant-related and methodological influences, and validity by replicating landmark EEG effects. Further, effects of data quality on spectral power analyses beyond participant-related characteristics were explored. EEG data from a multicenter ADHD-cohort (age range 6 to 45 years), and a non-ADHD school-age control group were analyzed (n_total = 305). Resting-state data during eyes open, and eyes closed conditions, and task-related data during a cued Continuous Performance Task (CPT) were collected. After pre-processing, general linear models, and stepwise regression models were fitted to the data. We found that EEG data quality was strongly related to demographic characteristics, but not to methodological factors. We were able to replicate maturational, task, and ADHD effects reported in the EEG literature, establishing a link with EEG-landmark effects. Furthermore, we showed that poor data quality significantly increases spectral power beyond effects of maturation and symptom severity. Taken together, the current results indicate that with a careful design and systematic quality control, informative large-scale multicenter trials characterizing neurophysiological mechanisms in neurodevelopmental disorders across the lifespan are feasible. Nevertheless, results are restricted to the limitations reported. Future work will clarify predictive value. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD))

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14 pages, 557 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Do ADHD Symptoms, Executive Function, and Study Strategies Predict Temporal Reward Discounting in College Students with Varying Levels of ADHD Symptoms? A Pilot Study

by Anouk Scheres and Mary V. Solanto

Brain Sci. 2021, 11(2), 181; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11020181 - 02 Feb 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3070

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between temporal reward discounting and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in college students. Additionally, we examined whether temporal reward discounting was associated with executive functioning in daily life and with learning and study strategies in this group. Thirty-nine college students (19 with ADHD and 20 controls) participated after meeting criteria for ADHD or non-ADHD based on standardized assessment. Strong preferences for small immediate rewards were specifically associated with the ADHD symptom domain hyperactivity–impulsivity. Additionally, these preferences were associated with daily life executive function problems and with weak learning and study strategies. This suggests that steep temporal discounting may be a key mechanism playing a role in the daily life challenges that college students with ADHD symptoms face. If these findings are replicated in larger samples, then intervention strategies may profitably be developed to counteract this strong preference for small immediate rewards in college students with ADHD symptoms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD))

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21 pages, 1913 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“My Brain Can Stop”: An ERP Study of Longitudinal Prediction of Inhibitory Control in Adolescence

by Tzlil Einziger, Mattan S. Ben-Shachar, Tali Devor, Michael Shmueli, Judith G. Auerbach and Andrea Berger

Brain Sci. 2021, 11(1), 100; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11010100 - 13 Jan 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2608

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. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD))

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13 pages, 639 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Improvement of Pursuit Eye Movement Alterations after Short Visuo-Attentional Training in ADHD

by Simona Caldani, Richard Delorme, Ana Moscoso, Mathilde Septier, Eric Acquaviva and Maria Pia Bucci

Brain Sci. 2020, 10(11), 816; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10110816 - 04 Nov 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2102

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder without validated and objective diagnostic procedures. Several neurological dysfunctions in the frontal circuit, in the thalamus, and in the cerebellum have been observed in subjects with ADHD. These cortical and subcortical areas are responsible for eye movement control. Therefore, studying eye movements could be a useful tool to better understand neuronal alterations in subjects with ADHD. The aim of the present study was firstly to compare the quality of pursuit eye movements in a group of 40 children with ADHD (age 8.2 ± 1.2) and in a group of 40 sex-, IQ-, age-matched typically developing (TD) children; secondly, we aimed to examine if a short visuo-attentional training could affect pursuit performances in children with ADHD. Findings showed that children with ADHD presented a greater number of catch-up saccade and lower pursuit gain compared to TD children. Differently to TD children, in children with ADHD, the number of catch-up saccades and the pursuit gain were not significantly correlated with children’s age. Furthermore, a short visuo-attentional training period can only slightly improve pursuit performance in children with ADHD, leading to a decrease of the occurrence of catch-up saccades only, albeit the effect size was small. The absence of any improvement in pursuit performance with age could be explained by the fact that the prefrontal and fronto-cerebellar circuits responsible for pursuit triggering are still immature. Pursuit eye movements can be used as a useful tool for ADHD diagnosis. However, attentional mechanisms controlled by these cortical structures could be improved by a short visuo-attentional training period. Further studies will be necessary to explore the effects of a longer visuo-attentional training period on oculomotor tasks in order to clarify how adaptive mechanisms are able to increase the attentional capabilities in children with ADHD. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD))

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10 pages, 888 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Objective Assessment of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Using an Infinite Runner-Based Computer Game: A Pilot Study

by David Delgado-Gómez, Aaron Sújar, Juan Ardoy-Cuadros, Alejandro Bejarano-Gómez, David Aguado, Carolina Miguelez-Fernandez, Hilario Blasco-Fontecilla and Inmaculada Peñuelas-Calvo

Brain Sci. 2020, 10(10), 716; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10100716 - 09 Oct 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 8998

Abstract

In the last few years, several computerized tasks have been developed to increase the objectivity of the diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This article proposes the “running raccoon” video game to assess the severity of inattention in patients diagnosed with ADHD. Unlike existing tests, the proposed tool is a genuine video game in which the patient must make a raccoon avatar jump to avoid falling into different gaps. The distance to the gap is recorded for each jump. To evaluate the proposed game, an experiment was conducted in which 32 children diagnosed with ADHD participated. For each participant, the median and interquartile range of these distances were calculated, along with the number of omissions. Experimental results showed a significant correlation between the participants’ inattention (measured by the Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms and Normal Behavior rating scale (SWAN) inattention subscale) with each of these three measures. In addition to its accuracy, other benefits are its short duration and the possibility of being run on both standard computers and mobile devices. These characteristics facilitate its acceptance in clinical environments or even its telematic use. The obtained results, together with the characteristics of the video game, make it an excellent tool to support clinicians in the diagnosis of ADHD. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD))

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14 pages, 865 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Actigraph-Measured Movement Correlates of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Symptoms in Young People with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) with and without Intellectual Disability and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

by Tom Earnest, Elizabeth Shephard, Charlotte Tye, Fiona McEwen, Emma Woodhouse, Holan Liang, Fintan Sheerin and Patrick F. Bolton

Brain Sci. 2020, 10(8), 491; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10080491 - 28 Jul 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3466

Abstract

Actigraphy, an objective measure of motor activity, reliably indexes increased movement levels in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and may be useful for diagnosis and treatment-monitoring. However, actigraphy has not been examined in complex neurodevelopmental conditions. This study used actigraphy to objectively measure movement levels in individuals with a complex neurodevelopmental genetic disorder, tuberous sclerosis (TSC). Thirty participants with TSC (11–21 years, 20 females, IQ = 35–108) underwent brief (approximately 1 h) daytime actigraph assessment during two settings: movie viewing and cognitive testing. Multiple linear regressions were used to test associations between movement measurements and parent-rated ADHD symptoms. Correlations were used to examine associations between actigraph measures and parent-rated ADHD symptoms and other characteristics of TSC (symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual ability (IQ), epilepsy severity, cortical tuber count). Higher movement levels during movies were associated with higher parent-rated ADHD symptoms. Higher ADHD symptoms and actigraph-measured movement levels during movies were positively associated with ASD symptoms and negatively associated with IQ. Inter-individual variability of movement during movies was not associated with parent-rated hyperactivity or IQ but was negatively associated with ASD symptoms. There were no associations with tuber count or epilepsy. Our findings suggest that actigraph-measured movement provides a useful correlate of ADHD in TSC. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD))

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24 pages, 4698 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Auditory and Visual Response Inhibition in Children with Bilateral Hearing Aids and Children with ADHD

by Laura Bell, Wolfgang Scharke, Vanessa Reindl, Janina Fels, Christiane Neuschaefer-Rube and Kerstin Konrad

Brain Sci. 2020, 10(5), 307; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10050307 - 18 May 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 5012

Abstract

Children fitted with hearing aids (HAs) and children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often have marked difficulties concentrating in noisy environments. However, little is known about the underlying neural mechanism of auditory and visual attention deficits in a direct comparison of both groups. The current functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study was the first to investigate the behavioral performance and neural activation during an auditory and a visual go/nogo paradigm in children fitted with bilateral HAs, children with ADHD and typically developing children (TDC). All children reacted faster, but less accurately, to visual than auditory stimuli, indicating a sensory-specific response inhibition efficiency. Independent of modality, children with ADHD and children with HAs reacted faster and tended to show more false alarms than TDC. On a neural level, however, children with ADHD showed supra-modal neural alterations, particularly in frontal regions. On the contrary, children with HAs exhibited modality-dependent alterations in the right temporopolar cortex. Higher activation was observed in the auditory than in the visual condition. Thus, while children with ADHD and children with HAs showed similar behavioral alterations, different neural mechanisms might underlie these behavioral changes. Future studies are warranted to confirm the current findings with larger samples. To this end, fNIRS provided a promising tool to differentiate the neural mechanisms underlying response inhibition deficits between groups and modalities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD))

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12 pages, 1036 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Atypical Electrophysiological Indices of Eyes-Open and Eyes-Closed Resting-State in Children and Adolescents with ADHD and Autism

by Alessio Bellato, Iti Arora, Puja Kochhar, Chris Hollis and Madeleine J. Groom

Brain Sci. 2020, 10(5), 272; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10050272 - 01 May 2020

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5662

Abstract

Investigating electrophysiological measures during resting-state might be useful to investigate brain functioning and responsivity in individuals under diagnostic assessment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism. EEG was recorded in 43 children with or without ADHD and autism, during a 4-min-long resting-state session which included an eyes-closed and an eyes-open condition. We calculated and analyzed occipital absolute and relative spectral power in the alpha frequency band (8–12 Hz), and alpha reactivity, conceptualized as the difference in alpha power between eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions. Alpha power was increased during eyes-closed compared to eyes-open resting-state. While absolute alpha power was reduced in children with autism, relative alpha power was reduced in children with ADHD, especially during the eyes-closed condition. Reduced relative alpha reactivity was mainly associated with lower IQ and not with ADHD or autism. Atypical brain functioning during resting-state seems differently associated with ADHD and autism, however further studies replicating these results are needed; we therefore suggest involving research groups worldwide by creating a shared and publicly available repository of resting-state EEG data collected in people with different psychological, psychiatric, or neurodevelopmental conditions, including ADHD and autism. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD))

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