Elsevier

Biological Psychiatry

Volume 55, Issue 7, 1 April 2004, Pages 772-775
Biological Psychiatry

Brief report
Training of slow cortical potentials in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: evidence for positive behavioral and neurophysiological effects

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2003.11.013Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

Learned self-control of slow cortical potentials (SCPs) may lead to behavioral improvement in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Hence, training effects should also be reflected at the neurophysiological level.

Methods

Thirteen children with ADHD, aged 7–13 years, performed 25 SCP training sessions within 3 weeks. Before and after training, the German ADHD rating scale was completed by parents, and event-related potentials were recorded in a cued continuous performance test (CPT). For a waiting-list group of nine children with ADHD, the same testing was applied.

Results

ADHD symptomatology was reduced by approximately 25% after SCP training. Moreover, a decrease of impulsivity errors and an increase of the contingent negative variation were observed in the CPT task.

Conclusions

This study provides first evidence for both positive behavioral and specific neurophysiological effects of SCP training in children with ADHD.

Section snippets

Subjects

Thirteen children with ADHD, aged 7–13 years, participated in SCP training during their summer holiday. The training effects of this group were compared with those of a waiting-list group of 9 children with ADHD. Both groups were comparable with respect to age, gender, and intelligence (German version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children III); Tewes et al 2000); see Table 1.

All patients fulfilled DSM-IV criteria for ADHD (American Psychiatric Association 1994). Diagnoses were based

Results

There were no pretraining differences between the training group and waiting-list group on any of the behavioral, performance, and ERP variables [t(1,20) < 1.2; ns].

Pre- and posttraining comparisons are summarized in Table 2. For the FBB-HKS score, a significant group × time interaction resulted [F(1,20) = 4.4; p < .05]. In the training group, the FBB-HKS score was decreased by approximately 25% after training [pretraining–posttraining: .38 ± .35; t(1,12) = 3.9; p < .004]. The waiting-list

Discussion

In this study, the effects of a 25-session SCP training were investigated in children with ADHD compared with a waiting-list group.

To evaluate training effects, performance and ERP measures of a cued CPT task were studied. In cue trials, children in the training group showed a pronounced CNV increase after SCP training. Because no pretraining–posttraining CNV effect was found for the waiting-list group, a practice effect may be excluded. The CNV is thought to be related to the negativities that

Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by Hogrefe Verlag, Göttingen and several International Service Clubs from the Göttingen area.

We thank Susanne Mock, Svenja Schulz, Wolf-Dieter Bloemer, and Paul Aner for their support. In GöFI, Mouse and Elephant from the German television program “Die Sendung mit der Maus” were used with the kind permission of WWF, Köln.

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