Inhibitory motor control in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: event-related potentials in the stop-signal paradigm
Abstract
Background
The aim of the study was to investigate the inhibitory control of an ongoing motor response and to identify underlying neural deficiencies, manifested in event-related potentials, that cause poorer inhibitory performance in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Methods
A stop-signal paradigm with a primary visual task and auditory stop signal was used to compare performance in 13 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and 13 control children, while event-related potentials were recorded simultaneously.
Results
Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder showed poorer inhibitory performance through a slower inhibitory process. Inhibitory processing of auditory stop signals was marked by a frontal N2 component that was reduced in the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder group relative to controls. A central positive component (P3) was associated with the success of inhibiting a response, but there were no group differences in its amplitude or latency.
Conclusions
Findings support the hypothesis of deficient inhibitory control in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Slower inhibitory processing appears to be due to a specific neural deficiency that manifests in the processing of the stop signal as attenuated negativity in the N2 latency range.
Keywords: Inhibition, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, event-related potentials, stop-signal paradigm
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PII: S0006-3223(03)00703-0
doi:10.1016/S0006-3223(03)00703-0
© 2003 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
