TITLE:
Behavioral and Neural Enhancing Effects of a Summer Treatment Program in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
AUTHORS:
Akira Yasumura, Kotaro Yuge, Chiyomi Egami, Chizuru Anai, Akiko Mukasa, Yushiro Yamashita, Masumi Inagaki
KEYWORDS:
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Inhibitory Control, Prefrontal Cortex, Behavioral Treatment, Reverse Stroop Task, Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.6 No.1,
March
15,
2016
ABSTRACT: Deficiency in executive functioning is a core symptom of attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The brain part responsible for executive
functions is the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Although drug-based interventions can
improve PFC activity, reports on PFC activity being improved by behavioral
treatment are lacking. We evaluated whether a summer treatment program (STP)
administering comprehensive behavioral treatment would increase PFC activity in
children with ADHD. We examined behavioral and neural changes in 20 children
before and after the STP, conducted over a 2-week period. We asked the
parents/guardians to complete the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham IV scale to assess
severity of ADHD. The main task evaluating executive control was the reverse
Stroop task. To examine changes in physiological indices, we used near-infrared
spectroscopy to measure changes in PFC activity. Subjective assessments by
parents/guardians indicated that ADHD symptoms improved significantly. There
was also significant improvement in the number of correct responses and
interference rates in the reverse Stroop task. Furthermore, post-intervention
PFC activity was significantly higher. These results suggest that the STP
improved inhibitory control in executive function, which is considered as a key
symptom of ADHD. The increase in PFC activity further suggests that the STP
improves cognition through neural function.