Atypical interference control in children with AD/HD with elevated theta/beta ratio

Abstract

The theta/beta ratio (TBR) is a major area of interest within electroencephalogram (EEG) research in AD/HD. While researchers suggest a prognostic role for TBR in AD/HD, its relationship to behavior remains uncertain. Recent evidence suggests that elevated TBR in AD/HD may be related to atypical inhibition, particularly at an attentional level. This study aimed to examine the performance on three inhibitory tasks of children with AD/HD. Fifty-eight children with AD/HD participated, divided into an elevated TBR (ET) group and a control group (CT). A behavioral disassociation was found - compared to CT, ET showed more difficulty in inhibiting surrounding stimuli but had less day-to-day inhibitory issues measured by BRIEF. There was no significant group difference on response inhibition. The results support the prognostic value of TBR in AD/HD. Elevated TBR may be an inhibitory biomarker; further studies are needed to explore the behavioral implications in patients without elevated TBR.

Is there a cluster of high theta-beta ratio patients in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder?

“…TBRs calculated with standardized frequency bands on eyes-closed (Zhang et al, 2017, Clarke et al, 2011. These TBR values are slightly different, however we assume the trends in distribution and clustering observed should be consistent.…”

“…The arbitrariness of the TBR threshold values and the heterogeneity of methods employed certainly cast doubt on these decisions and calls for a sophisticated validation of the existence of a subgroup of ADHD patients with high TBRs, as well as the value of the threshold that separates these subgroups. Although previous literature points towards a cluster of ADHD patients with an increased TBR (Zhang et al, 2017, Clarke et al, 2011, no study has investigated the existence of clusters based solely on TBRs. The existence of two distinct ADHD subgroups, defined specifically by high or low TBR values needs to be validated.…”

“…Food and Drug Administration, 2013). More recent studies failed to replicate a difference in the TBR values of ADHD patients, making its use as a diagnostic tool controversial (Zhang et al, 2017;Arns et al, 2013;Clarke et al, 2001). Instead, recent literature suggests that high TBR is a prognostic biomarker found in around 35% of ADHD patients (Zhang et al, 2017;Arns et al, 2013;Clarke et al, 2001), which could be used to identify better responders to a given intervention.…”

“…ClinicalTrials.gov). The threshold that separates the largest 35% of the TBR values was plotted as it is the suggestion from Zhang et al's recent study(Zhang et al, 2017) based on the results of Clarke et al's(Clarke et al, 2011). The 10% FPR threshold was displayed as it would constitute an interesting prognosis strategy.…”

The Theta/Beta Ratio as an Index of Cognitive Processing in Adults With the Combined Type of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

“…Hence, the theta/beta ratio may actually be more strongly associated with an alternate aspect of cognitive processing than the low-level discriminant processing assessed by the auditory oddball task in these studies. For instance, Zhang et al 40 examined whether there was a relationship between the elevated theta/beta ratio in children with ADHD and varying types of inhibition. Zhang et al 40 found that those children with both ADHD and enhanced theta/ beta ratios, had significantly larger reaction times in the interference control task relative to the control group.…”