Caldani Simona, Delorme Richard, Moscoso Ana, Septier Mathilde, Acquaviva Eric, Bucci Maria Pia
MoDyCo, UMR 7114 CNRS Université Paris Nanterre, 92001 Nanterre, France.
Pediatric Balance Evaluation Center (EFEE), ENT Department, AP-HP, Robert Debré Hospital, 75019 Paris, France.
Brain Sci. 2020 Nov 4;10(11):816. doi: 10.3390/brainsci10110816.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder without validated and objective diagnostic procedures. Several neurological dysfunctions in the frontal circuit, in the thalamus, and in the cerebellum have been observed in subjects with ADHD. These cortical and subcortical areas are responsible for eye movement control. Therefore, studying eye movements could be a useful tool to better understand neuronal alterations in subjects with ADHD. The aim of the present study was firstly to compare the quality of pursuit eye movements in a group of 40 children with ADHD (age 8.2 ± 1.2) and in a group of 40 sex-, IQ-, age-matched typically developing (TD) children; secondly, we aimed to examine if a short visuo-attentional training could affect pursuit performances in children with ADHD. Findings showed that children with ADHD presented a greater number of catch-up saccade and lower pursuit gain compared to TD children. Differently to TD children, in children with ADHD, the number of catch-up saccades and the pursuit gain were not significantly correlated with children's age. Furthermore, a short visuo-attentional training period can only slightly improve pursuit performance in children with ADHD, leading to a decrease of the occurrence of catch-up saccades only, albeit the effect size was small. The absence of any improvement in pursuit performance with age could be explained by the fact that the prefrontal and fronto-cerebellar circuits responsible for pursuit triggering are still immature. Pursuit eye movements can be used as a useful tool for ADHD diagnosis. However, attentional mechanisms controlled by these cortical structures could be improved by a short visuo-attentional training period. Further studies will be necessary to explore the effects of a longer visuo-attentional training period on oculomotor tasks in order to clarify how adaptive mechanisms are able to increase the attentional capabilities in children with ADHD.
注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）是一种尚无经过验证的客观诊断程序的神经发育障碍。在ADHD患者中观察到额叶回路、丘脑和小脑中存在几种神经功能障碍。这些皮质和皮质下区域负责眼球运动控制。因此，研究眼球运动可能是更好地理解ADHD患者神经元改变的有用工具。本研究的目的，一是比较40名ADHD儿童（年龄8.2±1.2岁）与40名性别、智商、年龄匹配的发育正常（TD）儿童的追踪眼球运动质量；二是研究短期视觉注意力训练是否会影响ADHD儿童的追踪表现。研究结果表明，与TD儿童相比，ADHD儿童的追补扫视次数更多，追踪增益更低。与TD儿童不同的是，ADHD儿童的追补扫视次数和追踪增益与儿童年龄没有显著相关性。此外，短期视觉注意力训练期只能略微改善ADHD儿童的追踪表现，仅导致追补扫视次数减少，尽管效应量较小。随着年龄增长追踪表现没有任何改善，这可以用负责触发追踪的前额叶和额小脑回路仍不成熟这一事实来解释。追踪眼球运动可作为ADHD诊断的有用工具。然而，由这些皮质结构控制的注意力机制可通过短期视觉注意力训练期得到改善。有必要进一步研究更长时间的视觉注意力训练期对眼动任务的影响，以阐明适应性机制如何提高ADHD儿童的注意力能力。
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