Task-related electroencephalographic deviances in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to provide more insight into the functional significance of electroencephalographic (EEG) deviances in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by evaluating quantitative EEG during performance on a task with a low activation level and a task tapping top-down executive control.

METHOD

Behavioral performance and EEG activity were compared between 24 adults with ADHD and 20 typically developing adults during a simple slow-paced 2-choice reaction time (2-CRT) task and a moderately paced flanker task.

RESULTS

During the slow 2-CRT task, adults with ADHD responded slower, more variably, and tended to make more errors of commission. Although being slower, adults with ADHD showed equally large congruency effects during flanker task performance, indicating intact interference inhibition. In the slow 2-CRT task, (midline) theta and beta power were higher in the ADHD group than in the control group, whereas no significant EEG group differences were observed in the flanker task. A moderate positive correlation between theta power and errors of commission was found in the 2-CRT task for adults with ADHD.

CONCLUSIONS

Adults with ADHD performed worse on a task inducing a low activation level but showed intact interference inhibition. The EEG findings are in accord with this, showing an abnormal EEG pattern in ADHD only when a low activation level was induced, not when top-down executive control load was high. Time-on-task effects could not explain the group deviances. The findings indicate that EEG deviances in ADHD are task-dependent and may be related to a suboptimal energetic state, rather than impaired top-down executive control.