Automatic sensory change processing in adults with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder: a visual mismatch negativity study

• Published in: European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience 2024-10, Vol.274 (7), p.1651-1660
• Main Authors: Dang, Chen, Luo, Xiangsheng, Zhu, Yu, Li, Bingkun, Feng, Yuan, Xu, Chenyang, Kang, Simin, Yin, Gaohan, Johnstone, Stuart J., Wang, Yufeng, Song, Yan, Sun, Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - physiopathology; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Correlation analysis; Electroencephalography; Event-related potentials; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Evoked Potentials, Visual - physiology; Executive function; Executive Function - physiology; Female; Humans; Information processing; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mismatch negativity; Neuropsychological Tests; Neurosciences; Original Paper; Psychiatry; Sensory evaluation; Sensory integration; Sensory properties; Visual perception; Visual Perception - physiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0940-1334; 1433-8491; 1433-8491
• DOI: 10.1007/s00406-023-01695-7

In addition to higher-order executive functions, underlying sensory processing ability is also thought to play an important role in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD). An event-related potential feature, the mismatch negativity, reflects the ability of automatic sensory change processing and may be correlated with AD/HD symptoms and executive functions. This study aims to investigate the characteristics of visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) in adults with AD/HD. Twenty eight adults with AD/HD and 31 healthy controls were included in this study. These two groups were matched in age, IQ and sex. In addition, both groups completed psychiatric evaluations, a visual ERP task used to elicit vMMN, and psychological measures about AD/HD symptoms and day-to-day executive functions. Compared to trols, the late vMMN (230–330 ms) was significantly reduced in the AD/HD group. Correlation analyses showed that late vMMN was correlated with executive functions but not AD/HD symptoms. However, further mediation analyses showed that different executive functions had mediated the relationships between late vMMN and AD/HD symptoms. Our findings indicate that the late vMMN, reflecting automatic sensory change processing ability, was impaired in adults with AD/HD. This impairment could have negative impact on AD/HD symptoms via affecting day-to-day executive functions.