title: Sources of auditory selective attention and the effects of methylphenidate in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to determine 1) whether abnormal auditory selective attention in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as reflected in the processing negativity (PN) of the event-related potential, is related to impaired frontal functioning; and 2) how methylphenidate (MPh) affects attentional functioning in ADHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sources of electrical brain activity were estimated in healthy control children, in ADHD children without medication, and in children with ADHD during a placebo-controlled medication trial involving MPh.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The source models showed that the PN is generated in the auditory cortex. Children with ADHD showed less activity related to selective attention in this brain region. Administration of MPh resulted in more frontally located sources.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results showed no evidence for an important role of the frontal cortex in abnormalities in selective attention in children with ADHD. Also, the data did not indicate that MPh normalizes brain activity in these children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kemner
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Jonkman
authors.forename: J Leon
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Kenemans
authors.forename: Koen B E
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Böcker
authors.forename: Marinus N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Verbaten
authors.forename: Herman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Van Engeland
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D003265:Contingent Negative Variation / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000187:drug effects; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008774:Methylphenidate / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010897:Pitch Discrimination / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
chemical_list: D008774:Methylphenidate