EEG analysis of brain activity in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder during an attention task

Abstract

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurobiological condition mostly affecting children. The diagnosis and treatment of ADHD has been a controversial subject among researchers. In this study, we analyzed the accountability of using theta/beta ratio and beta activations as EEG-based biomarkers for assessing the brain activity acquired during an attention task in ADHD children (n = 7) and normal control subjects (n = 7). ADHD subjects showed reduced beta activity during the task and higher theta/beta ratio at rest, in line with previous research findings. Furthermore, most of the ADHD subjects, during the attention test, presented a beta power falling outside the normality range defined on the normal children group.