Electrophysiological correlates of reading in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Fecha
2018Resumen
Aims. To investigate whether or not the deficits in executive functions in the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
affect reading comprehension and identify a potential biological marker of this neuropsychological endophenotype through
event-related potentials (ERP). The phenotypic association between reading comprehension and the specific functions of
inhibition and working memory is studied.
Subjects and methods. The sample consisted of 52 children with ADHD (8-13 years) divided in two groups according to the
presence (TDAH–; n = 27; percentile < 30) or the absence (TDAH+; n = 25; percentile > 50) of reading comprehension
deficits and a control group (n = 27). The executive functions were evaluated. The ERPs were assessed during a task in
which anaphoric sentences of different lengths were presented, recording the ERP in the last adjective of the sentence
that required a gender agreement.
Results. Working memory and inhibition were associated to reading comprehension performance. The ADHD+ group and
the control group seem to detect the disagreement at 100 ms, while the ADHD– group does not activate its working
memory until 250 ms.
Conclusions. The delay in the implementation o