Attention Control in Children With ADHD: An Investigation Using Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS)

ABSTRACT

Attention problems are a predominant contributor to near- and far-term functional outcomes in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, most interventions focus on improving the alerting attentional network, which has failed to translate into improved learning for a majority of children with ADHD. Comparatively less is known regarding the executive attentional network and its overarching attention control process, which governs the ability to maintain relevant information in a highly active, interference-free state, and is intrinsic to a broad range of cognitive functions. This is the first study to compare attention control abilities in children with ADHD and typically developing (TD) children using the Visual Array Task (VAT) and to simultaneously measure hemodynamic functioning (oxyHb) using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). Nineteen children with ADHD Combined type and 18 typically developing (TD) children aged 8 to 12 years were administered the VAT task while prefrontal activity was monitored using fNIRS. Results revealed that children with ADHD evinced large magnitude deficits in attention control and that oxyHb levels in the left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) were significantly greater in children with ADHD relative to TD children. These findings suggest that poor attention control abilities in children with ADHD may be related to increased left dlPFC activation in response to an underdeveloped and/or inefficient right dlPFC. The need to design interventions that target and strengthen attention control and its corresponding neural network is discussed based on the likelihood that attention control serves as the potential quaesitum for understanding a wide array of ADHD-related deficits.

KEYWORDS:

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
• attention control
• functional near-infrared spectroscopy
• executive functioning
• neuroimaging

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to all children and families that participated in this study and to all research assistants that contributed to collecting and processing the data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The terms conflict resolution (Posner & DiGirolamo, 1998) and interference control (Mullane et al., 2011; Nigg, 2000) have also been invoked to describe phenomena related to executive attention. In addition, Baddeley (2007) uses the term central executive to describe the supervisory attention controller in his multicomponent model of working memory.

² Executive functioning (EF) is a broad construct that encompasses numerous complex cognitive domains including engaging in goal directed behavior, organizing, self-regulation, novel thinking, and problem solving. Meta-analytic reviews, factor analytic studies, and neuroimaging investigations consistently identify three primary EFs – viz., working memory, set shifting, and behavioral inhibition (cf., Rapport et al., 2013, for a review).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.