title: Central nervous system processing of emotions in children with nocturnal enuresis and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Nocturnal enuresis (NE) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are common in childhood. We analysed the central processing of emotions in children with NE, ADHD, NE + ADHD and controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined 13 children with NE, 13 with ADHD, 14 with NE + ADHD and 14 controls. Acoustic evoked potentials were recorded using standardised methodology. For the event-related potentials, positive, negative and neutral pictures were presented and time intervals of 250-450, 450-650 and 650-850 msec evaluated. Hypotheses were tested with repeated-measures analyses of variance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the frontal region, children with NE showed more intense responses to positive and negative pictures than controls measured with event-related potentials. Viewing positive pictures, children with NE + ADHD differed from children with ADHD in the central and parietal and for all types of stimuli in the parietal region. Children with NE + ADHD elicited the strongest responses. Children with ADHD did not differ from controls. There was an unspecific interaction effect of the acoustic evoked potentials in children with NE compared to the controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children with NE processed emotions differently from children with ADHD and controls. Children with NE + ADHD processed emotions the most intense, displaying interaction effects of the central nervous system that cannot be explained by each disorder alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Saarland University Hospital, Homburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Equit
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: El Khatib
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rubly
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: von Gontard
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D053206:Nocturnal Enuresis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Acoustic evoked potentials; Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; Event-related potentials; International Affective Picture System; Nocturnal enuresis