Chapters authored
Executive Function in Children with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder
In recent years, deficit in executive function has been noted as a core symptom of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Previously, with the aim of quantitatively assessing the characteristics of children with ADHD from the viewpoint of inhibition among executive functions, we have considered behavioral and frontal brain functions with regard to inhibition vis a vis color word interference. In this study we also undertook additional collections of data at a number of facilities and investigated usefulness as a differential diagnosis aid. A total of 38 ADHD children and 46 typical developing children, matched in terms of age, gender, dominant arm and non-verbal intelligence, were the subject of analysis in this study. Utilising a Reverse Stroop Task (RST), we measured prefrontal area activity during task performance with near-infrared spectroscopy (OEG-16). Results were: 1) Behavioral results: in the RST, the ADHD children recorded a higher rate of interference than the TD children. 2) Brain activity: as regards brain activity during the RST, right lateral prefrontal activity was significantly lower in the ADHD children than in the TD children. These results suggest that RST results and changes in brain activity during task performance allow quantitative assessment of the clinical symptom of ADHD.
Part of the book: ADHD