Ghent University, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Henri Dunantlaan 2, Ghent, Belgium.
Neuropsychologia. 2024 Sep 9;202:108961. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108961. Epub 2024 Jul 19.
Random noise, such as white or pink noise, has been shown to have beneficial effects on the performance of individuals with (elevated traits of) ADHD. Both the state regulation deficit (SRD) account and the moderate brain arousal (MBA) model argue that this effect is due to enhanced cognitive arousal. The MBA model specifically attributes this to random noise affecting dopaminergic (DA) transmission via stochastic resonance (SR). However, he requirement of SR and the role of DA have not yet been properly examined. To test this, proper control conditions are needed.
To examine the requirement of SR, 60 neurotypical adults with varying levels of ADHD traits performed a slow two-choice reaction time (S1-S2) task in three auditory conditions: pink (random) noise, a pure 100 Hz tone (non-random noise), and silence. All participants also completed the Attention Network Test (ANT) in two conditions (pink noise and silence) to inspect the effect on executive network efficiency which may serve as a proxy measure of DA. ADHD traits were assessed via self-report.
Auditory stimulation improved performance on the S1-S2 task in participants with elevated ADHD traits, however this was the case for both pink noise and the pure tone. Pink noise did not affect executive network efficiency, irrespective of ADHD traits.
Our results suggest that stochastic resonance is not required for pink noise to have a beneficial effect on ADHD-related performance. Pink noise did not affect our DA proxy measure, however this negative finding should be interpreted with caution. Our results cast doubt on the tenets of the MBA model, warranting further research.
随机噪声（如白噪声或粉红噪声）已被证明对（具有）ADHD（注意力缺陷多动障碍）特征的个体的表现有有益影响。状态调节缺陷（SRD）理论和适度大脑唤醒（MBA）模型都认为，这种影响是由于认知唤醒增强所致。MBA 模型特别将这种效果归因于随机噪声通过随机共振（SR）影响多巴胺能（DA）传递。然而，SR 的要求和 DA 的作用尚未得到适当检验。为了检验这一点，需要适当的对照条件。
为了检验 SR 的要求，60 名具有不同 ADHD 特征水平的神经典型成年人在三种听觉条件下进行缓慢的双选择反应时间（S1-S2）任务：粉红（随机）噪声、100 Hz 纯音（非随机噪声）和静音。所有参与者还在两种条件（粉红噪声和静音）下完成了注意网络测试（ANT），以检查其对执行网络效率的影响，这可能作为 DA 的替代测量指标。通过自我报告评估 ADHD 特征。
听觉刺激改善了具有 ADHD 特征的参与者的 S1-S2 任务表现，但在粉红噪声和纯音的情况下都是如此。无论 ADHD 特征如何，粉红噪声都不会影响执行网络效率。
我们的结果表明，随机共振不是粉红噪声对 ADHD 相关表现产生有益影响所必需的。粉红噪声没有影响我们的 DA 替代测量指标，但是这个负面发现应该谨慎解释。我们的结果对 MBA 模型的基本原理提出了质疑，需要进一步研究。
