title: Brain plasticity following psychophysiological treatment in learning disabled/ADHD pre-adolescents.
abstract: This research investigated the effects of a psychophysiological treatment methodology on brain plasticity as reflected in event-related brain potential topographic mapping and morphology along with School-marks and Mangina-Test performance in three different groups of pre-adolescents at baseline and 8 months later: (a) Learning Disabled/ADHD pre-adolescents who were treated; (b) Non-treated Learning Disabled/ADHD pre-adolescents; (c) Normal controls. Results indicate that: (1) the Event-Related Brain Potentials topographic mapping was significantly modified in post-treatment condition for the treated Learning/Disabled/ADHD group as opposed to pre-treatment baseline (P < 0.001). This was mainly due to the enhanced pre-frontal and frontal N450 amplitudes along with higher P450 components over posterior regions in post-treatment condition (P < 0.001); (2) for group comparisons at baseline, no significant topographic mapping differences were found between the treated Learning Disabled/ADHD group and the non-treated Learning Disabled/ADHD control group (P > 0.05) and significant differences were present between the treated Leaning Disabled/ADHD and the normal control group (P < 0.001); (3) 8 months later, in post-treatment condition, group comparisons revealed significant topographic mapping differences between the treated Learning Disabled/ADHD group and the non-treated Learning Disabled/ADHD control group (P < 0.001) and none between the treated Learning Disabled/ADHD group and the normal control group (P > 0.05); (4) the topographic mapping of both components was similar at baseline and 8 months later in both control groups (P > 0.05); (5) at baseline, school-marks and Mangina-Test performance of treated Learning Disabled/ADHD were not significantly different than those of the non-treated Learning Disabled/ADHD (P > 0.05) and significantly lower than those of the normal control group (P < 0.001); (6) the treated Learning Disabled/ADHD group in post-treatment condition had significantly higher school-marks and Mangina-Test performance than those of non-treated Learning Disabled/ADHD controls (P < 0.001) and were similar to those of normal controls 8 months later (P > 0.05); (7) school-marks and Mangina-Test performance at baseline for non-treated Learning Disabled/ADHD controls were not modified 8 months later (P > 0.05) and normal controls maintained their high performance within the same time interval (P > 0.05). These findings provide evidence of the impact of the psychophysiological treatment methodology on brain plasticity and regulation as reflected in significantly improved neurophysiology of pre-frontal, frontal and posterior brain regions concomitantly with higher school-marks and neuropsychometric performance in the Mangina-Test.
authors.affiliation: Montreal Research and Treatment Center, 3587 University Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2B1. mrtc@mrtc.qc.ca
authors.forename: Constantine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Mangina
authors.forename: J Helen
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Beuzeron-Mangina
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011603:Psychophysiology / Q000379:methods*; D011930:Reaction Time