Deficits in concurrent sensory orienting and decision making in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder during visual search

Poster Session E - Monday, April 15, 2024, 2:30 – 4:30 pm EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Dongwei Li¹ (dongweili94@gmail.com), Xiangsheng Luo³, Jialiang Guo¹, Li Sun², Yan Song¹; ¹Beijing Normal University, ²Peking University Sixth Hospital, ³Beijing Anding Hospital

Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder in school-age children. However, underlying pathophysiological substrates of cognitive deficits (e.g. inattention and poor executive function) in childhood ADHD remain unclear. Therefore, exploring neural markers of cognitive impairment in children with ADHD is vital for the early assisted diagnosis of ADHD and the selection of intervention targets. Methods: We collected electroencephalography (EEG) signals from 70 children with ADHD and 65 matched typically developing (TD) children while performing a visual search task. Oscillation-based multivariate pattern decoding was used to investigate visuomotor coordination during spatial attention. Results: Compared with TD children, children with ADHD showed an impairment in accuracy, response time, and response time variability. Multivariate machine learning revealed that the ADHD group showed deficits in alpha (visual-related) and beta (motor-related) power-based decoding accuracy, indicating impaired sensory orienting and decision making in children with ADHD. Importantly, the ADHD group exhibited a delay between alpha and beta decoding, suggesting a deficit of concurrent visuomotor coordination in children with ADHD. However, this visuomotor asynchrony was absent in TD children. Furthermore, visuomotor asynchrony between alpha and beta decoding could predict behavioral impairments and the severity of symptoms in children with ADHD. Conclusion: These observations reveal that impaired concurrent visuomotor coordination might be a potential neural marker of attentional selection impairment in children with ADHD, further advance the understanding of cognitive deficits, and provide potential research directions for the early diagnosis and optimization of intervention in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Topic Area: PERCEPTION & ACTION: Vision