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Enhancing neural markers of attention in children with ADHD using a digital therapeutic

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental condition characterized by diminished attentional control. Critically, these difficulties are related to negative consequences in real-life functioning both during development and into adulthood. There is now growing e...

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Autores principales: Gallen, Courtney L., Anguera, Joaquin A., Gerdes, Molly R., Simon, Alexander J., Cañadas, Elena, Marco, Elysa J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8719702/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34972140
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261981
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author Gallen, Courtney L.
Anguera, Joaquin A.
Gerdes, Molly R.
Simon, Alexander J.
Cañadas, Elena
Marco, Elysa J.
author_facet Gallen, Courtney L.
Anguera, Joaquin A.
Gerdes, Molly R.
Simon, Alexander J.
Cañadas, Elena
Marco, Elysa J.
author_sort Gallen, Courtney L.
collection PubMed
description Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental condition characterized by diminished attentional control. Critically, these difficulties are related to negative consequences in real-life functioning both during development and into adulthood. There is now growing evidence that modulating the underlying neural circuits related to attention can improve behavior and brain function in children with ADHD. We have previously shown that game-based digital therapeutics targeting a key neural marker of attention–midline frontal theta (MFT)–yield positive effects on attentional control in several populations. However, the effects of such digital therapeutics in children with ADHD and no other comorbidities has not been yet examined. To address this gap, we assessed a sample of 25 children with ADHD (8–12 years old) on neural, behavioral, and clinical metrics of attention before and after a 4-week at-home intervention on an iPad targeting MFT circuitry. We found that children showed enhancements on a neural measure of attention (MFT power), as well as on objective behavioral measures of attention and parent reports of clinical ADHD symptoms. Importantly, we observed relationships between the neural and behavioral cognitive improvements, demonstrating that those children who showed the largest intervention-related neural gains were also those that improved the most on the behavioral tasks indexing attention. These findings provide support for using targeted, digital therapeutics to enhance multiple features of attentional control in children with ADHD. Study registration: ClinicalTrials.gov registry (NCT03844269) https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03844269.
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spelling pubmed-87197022022-01-01 Enhancing neural markers of attention in children with ADHD using a digital therapeutic Gallen, Courtney L. Anguera, Joaquin A. Gerdes, Molly R. Simon, Alexander J. Cañadas, Elena Marco, Elysa J. PLoS One Research Article Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental condition characterized by diminished attentional control. Critically, these difficulties are related to negative consequences in real-life functioning both during development and into adulthood. There is now growing evidence that modulating the underlying neural circuits related to attention can improve behavior and brain function in children with ADHD. We have previously shown that game-based digital therapeutics targeting a key neural marker of attention–midline frontal theta (MFT)–yield positive effects on attentional control in several populations. However, the effects of such digital therapeutics in children with ADHD and no other comorbidities has not been yet examined. To address this gap, we assessed a sample of 25 children with ADHD (8–12 years old) on neural, behavioral, and clinical metrics of attention before and after a 4-week at-home intervention on an iPad targeting MFT circuitry. We found that children showed enhancements on a neural measure of attention (MFT power), as well as on objective behavioral measures of attention and parent reports of clinical ADHD symptoms. Importantly, we observed relationships between the neural and behavioral cognitive improvements, demonstrating that those children who showed the largest intervention-related neural gains were also those that improved the most on the behavioral tasks indexing attention. These findings provide support for using targeted, digital therapeutics to enhance multiple features of attentional control in children with ADHD. Study registration: ClinicalTrials.gov registry (NCT03844269) https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03844269. Public Library of Science 2021-12-31 /pmc/articles/PMC8719702/ /pubmed/34972140 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261981 Text en © 2021 Gallen et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Gallen, Courtney L.
Anguera, Joaquin A.
Gerdes, Molly R.
Simon, Alexander J.
Cañadas, Elena
Marco, Elysa J.
Enhancing neural markers of attention in children with ADHD using a digital therapeutic
title Enhancing neural markers of attention in children with ADHD using a digital therapeutic
title_full Enhancing neural markers of attention in children with ADHD using a digital therapeutic
title_fullStr Enhancing neural markers of attention in children with ADHD using a digital therapeutic
title_full_unstemmed Enhancing neural markers of attention in children with ADHD using a digital therapeutic
title_short Enhancing neural markers of attention in children with ADHD using a digital therapeutic
title_sort enhancing neural markers of attention in children with adhd using a digital therapeutic
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8719702/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34972140
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261981
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