Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2025
07:09
Gaze in Action: Head-mounted Eye Tracking of Children's Dynamic Visual Attention During Naturalistic Behavior
Published on: November 14, 2018
10.6K
Greater Frontoparietal Connectivity During Task Engagement Among Toddlers With Parent-Reported Inattention
Heather M Joseph1, Hendrik Santosa2, Nadiyah Fisher3
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Developmental Psychobiology
|September 5, 2024
Summary
Toddlers at risk for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show distinct brain connectivity patterns. Early identification of these neural differences may inform future interventions for ADHD.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with lifelong impacts.
- ADHD-related behaviors can manifest in toddlerhood, but early neural markers are not well understood.
- Disrupted neural connectivity in executive control networks, including the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and dorsal attention network (DAN), is characteristic of ADHD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if altered neural connectivity can be identified in toddlers at risk for ADHD before the disorder's typical onset.
- To examine the relationship between mother-reported ADHD-related behaviors and neural connectivity in young children.
Main Methods:
- Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to assess neural connectivity in 51 children aged 1.5-3 years during a book-engaging task.
- Robust innovation-based correlation was employed to compute neural connectivity.
- Mother-reported ADHD-related behaviors were correlated with neural connectivity measures.
Main Results:
- High task engagement was observed across participants and did not correlate with ADHD-related behaviors.
- Attention was associated with increased connectivity between the right lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the right temporal parietal junction (TPJ).
- Children exhibiting more ADHD-related behaviors showed greater frontoparietal connectivity, specifically between the bilateral PFC and the right TPJ.
Conclusions:
- Toddlers at risk for ADHD may exhibit increased frontoparietal connectivity, potentially to sustain attention.
- These findings suggest that neural connectivity alterations may be detectable in early childhood.
- Further research is needed to explore early interventions targeting attention development and their impact on PFC and attention network connectivity.
