Comparative study on event-related potentials of ADHD children and normal controls

Objective To investigate the difference of event-related potentials of ADHD children and normal controls in passive and active tasks. Methods ERP was elicited by a simple auditory Oddball task in 30 ADHD children and 30 normal controls.In the passive attention,the children were told to read a story and ignore auditory stimuli,and in the active attention,to count the rare tones. Results ①The N2P3 latencies of ADHD children were significantly longer than that of controls in two tasks,however no difference was found in amplitude between the two groups.②Both ADHD subjects and controls showed an enhanced P3 from the passive task to the active task,except for ADHD children in Pz.③P3 ampitudes increased to the same extent in both groups from the passive task to the active task.④ ADHD subjects made significantly fewer correct counting than the normal controls. Conclusion The prolonged latencies of N2P3 may have the implication of cognitive function deficit of ADHD children.