Direction of information flow between brain regions in ADHD and healthy children based on EEG by using directed phase
Ali Ekhlasi1, Ali Motie Nasrabadi2, Mohammad Reza Mohammadi3
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Insights
Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) exhibit disrupted brain information flow patterns compared to healthy children. These differences are particularly notable in theta and beta frequency bands, offering new insights into ADHD neurobiology.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with behavioral characteristics potentially linked to disrupted directed information flow between brain regions.
- Understanding these disruptions is crucial for diagnosing and treating ADHD in children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate and compare information pathways within brain networks of children with ADHD and healthy controls.
- To identify specific differences in directed information flow patterns across various frequency bands.
Main Methods:
- Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings were collected from 61 children with ADHD and 60 healthy children during an attentional visual task.
- Directed Phase Transfer Entropy (dPTE) was used to calculate effective connectivity across scalp channels for delta, theta, alpha, beta, and lower-gamma bands.
- Permutation tests were employed to evaluate group differences in inter-regional connectivity.
Main Results:
- Healthy subjects showed significant posterior to anterior information flow in theta bands, while ADHD children displayed an opposite, disrupted pattern.
- Information flow between anterior brain regions in the beta band was significantly higher in healthy individuals than in the ADHD group, especially towards the right frontal regions (F8).
- Connections from central and parietal areas to the Pz electrode were also higher in healthy children, whereas delta band showed higher internal anterior connections in the ADHD group.
Conclusions:
- The study reveals distinct patterns of directed information flow in the brains of children with ADHD compared to healthy controls.
- Specific differences in theta, beta, and delta frequency bands highlight potential neurobiological underpinnings of ADHD.
- These findings offer novel insights into brain network dynamics in ADHD and may inform future diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
Abstract:
Directed information flow between brain regions might be disrupted in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) which is related to the behavioral characteristics of ADHD. This paper aims to investigate the different information pathways of brain networks in children with ADHD in comparison with healthy subjects. EEG recordings were obtained from 61 children with ADHD and 60 healthy children without neurological disorders during attentional visual task. Effective connectivity among all scalp channels was calculated using directed phase transfer entropy (dPTE) for delta, theta, alpha, beta, and lower-gamma frequency bands. Group differences were evaluated using permutation tests in connectivity between regions. Significant posterior to anterior patterns of information flow in theta frequency bands were found in healthy subjects (p-value < 0.05), while disrupted pattern flow, in an opposite way, was found in ADHD children. In the beta band, information flow in pathways between anterior regions was significantly higher in healthy individuals than in the ADHD group. These differences are more indicated in connectivity that leads from frontal and central regions to the right frontal regions of the brain (F8 electrode). Furthermore, connections from central and lateral parietal areas to Pz electrode areas are statistically significant and higher in healthy children in this band. In the delta band, internal connections in the anterior region show a significant difference between the two groups, as this amount is higher in the ADHD group. Our analysis may provide new insights into information flow in brain regions of ADHD children in comparison with healthy children.
