Abnormal modulation of theta oscillations in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Previous studies have found that theta activities exhibit posterior lateralized modulation as well as midfrontal event-related synchronization (ERS) during covert visual attention in adults. The present study investigated whether these theta modulations existed in children and whether they were associated with attentional problems in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Electroencephalography signals were recorded from typically developing (TD) children and children with ADHD (TD: n = 24; ADHD: n = 22) while they performed a cued covert visual attention task. The participants responded to a target following a cue designed as human eyes that gazed to the left or right visual field (70% validity). Compared with the TD children, the children with ADHD showed increased midfrontal theta ERS and significant posterior theta lateralization in response to the cues. More importantly, we found that the stronger posterior theta lateralization in the right hemisphere exhibited a positive trial-based correlation with the larger midfrontal theta ERS and predicted lower RT variability at the trial level in the children with ADHD. We suggest that ADHD may be associated with some enhanced systems in the frontal and posterior areas via theta oscillations, which may be involved in the compensatory maturation for their attention deficits in childhood, thereby promoting the stability of behavioral responses.