title: Asymmetrical hemispheric control of visual-spatial attention in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
abstract: As neuropsychological mechanisms for attention have been hypothesized to be located in the right hemisphere of the brain, several investigators have begun to conceptualize attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related attentional deficits as involving right-hemispheric abnormalities. The authors evaluated and compared adult patients diagnosed with ADHD with a non-ADHD group of patients using a chronometric visual-spatial attention task that is sensitive to hemispheric differences in efficiency of information processing. Reaction times across different cuing conditions, cue-target delays, and visual fields were assessed. When participants' attention was misdirected with cues in the right visual field and attention had to be switched to a target on the left visual field, there was a longer delay among ADHD adults than non-ADHD adults, specifically when the interval between the cue and target was 800 ms as compared with 100 ms. This specific pattern of dysfunction was interpreted as a difficulty with maintaining attention possibly associated with anterior attention mechanisms in the right hemisphere.
authors.affiliation: Duke U.
authors.forename: Jeffrey N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Epstein
authors.forename: C Keith
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Conners
authors.forename: Drew
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Erhardt
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: March
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Swanson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*