[SP4-3B-4] Reduced prefrontal cortex activation in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder during n-back task: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study
[Objective] To study the difference in prefrontal cortex (PFC) hemodynamic characteristics between ADHD children and typical developing children during working memory tasks.
[Methods] In this study, 12 children with ADHD and 13 typical developing children were studied. We choose n-back task as the neuropsychology task.The functional blood oxygen metabolism signals were recorded when they performed n-back task using fNIRS.
[Results] (1) In the behavior data ADHD children have a lower accuracy compared with typical developing children during 1-back condition of the n-back task. And during 0-back condition, the reaction time of ADHD children is longer than typical developing children. (2)For the0-back condition, there is no statistically difference between the two groups. For the 1-back condition, statistically significant differences between the two groups were solely present in single channels channel # 18, which located in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The typical developing children showed stronger task-related increases in oxy-Hb concentration as compared to ADHD children for channel 18. The typical developing children showed a high-level activation compared with the ADHD group in the left DLPFC.
[Conclusions] Functional brain imaging using fNIRS showed a reduced activation in the left DLPFC in children with ADHD during working memory tasks. The ADHD children may have a working memory defect and their left DLPFC function associated with the n-back task performance may be impaired. fNIRS may be a promising tool to identify the difference between ADHD and typical developing children.
[Methods] In this study, 12 children with ADHD and 13 typical developing children were studied. We choose n-back task as the neuropsychology task.The functional blood oxygen metabolism signals were recorded when they performed n-back task using fNIRS.
[Results] (1) In the behavior data ADHD children have a lower accuracy compared with typical developing children during 1-back condition of the n-back task. And during 0-back condition, the reaction time of ADHD children is longer than typical developing children. (2)For the0-back condition, there is no statistically difference between the two groups. For the 1-back condition, statistically significant differences between the two groups were solely present in single channels channel # 18, which located in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The typical developing children showed stronger task-related increases in oxy-Hb concentration as compared to ADHD children for channel 18. The typical developing children showed a high-level activation compared with the ADHD group in the left DLPFC.
[Conclusions] Functional brain imaging using fNIRS showed a reduced activation in the left DLPFC in children with ADHD during working memory tasks. The ADHD children may have a working memory defect and their left DLPFC function associated with the n-back task performance may be impaired. fNIRS may be a promising tool to identify the difference between ADHD and typical developing children.