Work

Working Memory and Response Inhibition as One Integral Phenotype of Adult ADHD? A Behavioral and Imaging Correlational Investigation

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: It is an open question whether working memory (WM) and response inhibition (RI) constitute one integral phenotype in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHOD: The authors investigated 45 adult ADHD patients and 41 controls comparable for age, gender, intelligence, and education during a letter n-back and a stop-signal task, and measured prefrontal oxygenation by means of functional near-infrared spectroscopy. RESULTS: The authors replicated behavioral and cortical activation deficits in patients compared with controls for both tasks and also for performance in both control conditions. In the patient group, 2-back performance was correlated with stop-signal reaction time. This correlation did not seem to be specific for WM and RI as 1-back performance was correlated with go reaction time. No significant correlations of prefrontal oxygenation between WM and RI were found. CONCLUSION: The authors' findings do not support the hypothesis of WM and RI representing one integral phenotype of ADHD mediated by the prefrontal cortex.

Source: Journal of Attention Disorders

DOI: 10.1177/1087054711429702