Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 31, 2026
Event-related Potentials During Target-response Tasks to Study Cognitive Processes of Upper Limb Use in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy
Published on: January 11, 2016
Inhibitory control in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: event-related potentials identify the
S R Pliszka1, M Liotti, M G Woldorff
1Department of Psychiatry (SRP, ML), The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 78284-7792, USA.
Insights
Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show reduced brain activity in regions crucial for response inhibition. This study reveals specific neural timing and processing abnormalities in ADHD, impacting inhibitory control.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with core deficits in inhibitory control.
- These deficits may underlie various dysfunctional behaviors observed in ADHD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural underpinnings of response inhibition deficits in children with ADHD.
- To identify specific event-related potential (ERP) abnormalities related to inhibitory control in ADHD.
Main Methods:
- Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 10 children with ADHD and 10 healthy controls.
- Participants performed a Stop signal task measuring response inhibition.
Main Results:
- ADHD children exhibited a reduced N200 wave over the right inferior frontal cortex in response to Stop signals.
- N200 amplitude correlated with response inhibition performance.
- ADHD children showed a reduced slow positive wave over right frontal regions preceding failed inhibitions.
Conclusions:
- Children with ADHD display abnormalities in early-latency right inferior frontal processing critical for response inhibition.
- Right frontal abnormalities are also associated with processing Go stimuli preceding inhibition failures in ADHD.
- These ERP findings provide timing and processing specificity, complementing functional MRI studies on right frontal abnormalities in ADHD.
Background:
A core deficit in inhibitory control may account for a wide range of dysfunctional behaviors in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Methods:
Event-related potentials were measured in 10 children with ADHD and 10 healthy children during a task specifically involving response inhibition (Stop signal task).
Results:
In response to all Stop signals, control participants produced a large negative wave at 200 msec (N200) over right inferior frontal cortex, which was markedly reduced in ADHD children. The N200 amplitude was significantly correlated across subjects with response-inhibition performance. In response to the Go stimuli, ADHD children showed a reduced slow positive wave (250-500 msec) in anticipation of failed inhibitions over right frontal scalp regions.
Conclusions:
ADHD children appear to have an abnormality in an early-latency, right inferior frontal processing component critical to the initiation of normal response-inhibition operations. They also appear to have a right frontal abnormality associated to the covert processing of Go stimuli preceding failed inhibitions. By providing timing and processing component specificity, these results extend the findings of recent functional MRI studies of inhibitory control reporting right frontal abnormalities in ADHD.
More Related Videos
08:55Online Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Protocol for Measuring Cortical Physiology Associated with Response Inhibition
Published on: February 8, 2018
10:02Event Related Potentials (ERPs) and other EEG Based Methods for Extracting Biomarkers of Brain Dysfunction: Examples from Pediatric Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Published on: March 12, 2020
Related Concept Videos
01:30Information Processing Approach
01:30Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Diagnostic Criteria and Symptoms
To diagnose ADHD, symptoms must manifest before age 12 and be evident across multiple settings.