Error and post-error processing in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: An electrical neuroimaging
T W P Janssen1, N van Atteveldt1, J Oosterlaan2
1Vrije Universiteit, Clinical Neuropsychology Section, Van der Boechortstraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Objective:
Inaccurate and inconsistent response styles in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been observed in a wide variety of cognitive tasks, in line with regulatory deficit models of ADHD. Event-related potential (ERP) studies of error processing have provided evidence for these models, but are limited in specificity. We aimed to improve the isolation, localization and identification of error (self-monitoring and adaptive control) and post-error (implementation of cognitive control) processing in ADHD.
Methods:
ERPs were obtained for 46 ADHD and 51 typically developing (TD) children using the stop-signal task. Response-locked error (Ne and Pe) and stimulus-locked post-error (N2) components were compared between groups. Ne/Pe were corrected for preceding stimulus overlap and group differences were localized.
Results:
Ne was intact, while Pe amplitude was markedly reduced in children with ADHD (ηp2 = 0.14). Pe differences were localized in the dorsal posterior/midcingulate (BA31/24) cortex. While the TD group showed increased N2 amplitude in post-error trials (ηp2 = 0.24), localized in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and angular gyrus, the ADHD group did not.
Conclusions:
Self-regulation deficits in ADHD are associated with later stages of error processing and subsequent implementation of cognitive control.
Significance:
We contribute to the literature by further specifying error processing deficits in ADHD.
