Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026
Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments
Published on: January 23, 2017
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder involves differential cortical processing in a visual spatial attention
V López1, J López-Calderón, R Ortega
1Departamento de Psiquiatría y Centro de Investigaciones Médicas, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile.
Objective:
Inattention is undoubtedly one of the main characteristics of Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Nevertheless, a growing corpus of evidence shows that not all attentional processes are affected in this condition. This study aimed to explore the distribution of attentional resources in children with ADHD via a spatially shifted double-oddball visual task.
Methods:
We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) for all visual stimuli. Subjects were instructed to allocate attention in a specific area of visual space while ignoring all stimuli presented outside. Ten male children (age: 9-14; mean = 11.6 +/- 2.1) who met DSM-IV criteria for the ADHD combined subtype participated in the study, along with ten age- and sex-matched healthy controls (9-14; mean = 11.2 +/- 2.3).
Results:
ADHD subjects showed late differential cortical responses to initially suppressed irrelevant stimuli. The amplitude of early N1-P1 components were mainly modulated by stimulus location and showed no significant differences between groups, but a late P300-like positivity was clearly evoked in the ADHD group by peripheral stimuli.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that ADHD may not compromise the early attentional spatial filter but rather entails a different distribution of attentional resources at later stages of cortical processing. Perhaps these differences may be attributable to individual differences in attentional mechanisms.
Significance:
ADHD may not affect initial focusing of visual attention but rather the allocation of processing resources in later stages.
