[Event-related potentials associated with error detection in adult ADHD--literature review]

According to a recent assessment the prevalence of adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was 1.5% in the Hungarian adult population (1), which is in line with previous results indicating that ADHD is a disorder of high prevalence. The core symptoms, including the attention deficit, the hyperactivity and impulsivity are all characteristics that have a significant impact on cognitive functions. Our review focuses on event-related potentials of patients suffering from adult ADHD. With information gained from electrophysiological measurement, our goal is to give an overview of the process leading to a functional impairment based on the available literature.

PubMed and Medline search engines were used in order to identify all relevant articles, published between 1993 and 2010. For the purpose of the current paper we reviewed publications summarizing results of clinical studies.

With regard to evoked potentials reflecting early sensorial information processing a significant difference between ADHD and control subjects was detected in the auditory N2 and P2, and visual N2 components. The P300 component, which is independent of modality, was significantly lower in ADHD patients compared to the control group. Similar results were reported with regard to error related negativity (ERN).

Since electrophysiological research investigating event-related evoked potientials in adults suffering from ADHD have come to the focus of scientific interest only recently, the amount of literature available is relatively limited. Considering that all three core symptoms of the disorder have a significant impact on both information processing and on concomitant cognitive functions, patients with ADHD should be divided into subgroups based on their neuropsychologically measured dominant symptoms.