title: Spontaneous activity in the waiting brain: a marker of impulsive choice in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Spontaneous very low frequency oscillations (VLFO), seen in the resting brain, are attenuated when individuals are working on attention demanding tasks or waiting for rewards (Hsu et al., 2013). Individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) display excess VLFO when working on attention tasks. They also have difficulty waiting for rewards. Here we examined the waiting brain signature in ADHD and its association with impulsive choice.
  
  
  METHODS
  DC-EEG from 21 children with ADHD and 21 controls (9-15 years) were collected under four conditions: (i) resting; (ii) choosing to wait; (iii) being "forced" to wait; and (iv) working on a reaction time task. A questionnaire measured two components of impulsive choice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant VLFO reductions were observed in controls within anterior brain regions in both working and waiting conditions. Individuals with ADHD showed VLFO attenuation while working but to a reduced level and none at all when waiting. A closer inspection revealed an increase of VLFO activity in temporal regions during waiting. Excess VLFO activity during waiting was associated with parents' ratings of temporal discounting and delay aversion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results highlight the potential role for waiting-related spontaneous neural activity in the pathophysiology of impulsive decision-making of ADHD.
authors: Institute for Disorders of Impulse & Attention, Developmental Brain-Behaviour Laboratory, Psychology, University of Southampton, UK.
authors: Chia-Fen
authors: CF
authors: Hsu
authors: Institute for Disorders of Impulse & Attention, Developmental Brain-Behaviour Laboratory, Psychology, University of Southampton, UK.
authors: Nicholas
authors: N
authors: Benikos
authors: Institute for Disorders of Impulse & Attention, Developmental Brain-Behaviour Laboratory, Psychology, University of Southampton, UK; Department of Experimental Clinical & Health Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium. Electronic address: ejb3@soton.ac.uk.
authors: Edmund J S
authors: EJ
authors: Sonuga-Barke
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D012201:Reward
keywords: ADHD; Default mode network; Delay aversion; Impulsivity; Spontaneous oscillations; Waiting