Affective processing bias in youth with primary bipolar disorder or primary attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
High rates of comorbidity and overlapping diagnostic criteria between pediatric bipolar disorder (BD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) contribute to diagnostic and treatment confusion. To advance what is known about both disorders, we compared effect of emotional stimuli on response control in children with primary BD, primary ADHD and typically developing controls (TDC). Participants included 7-17 year olds with either "narrow-phenotype" pediatric BD (n = 25), ADHD (n = 25) or TDC (n = 25). Groups were matched on participant age and FSIQ. The effect of emotional stimuli on response control was assessed using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery Affective Go/No-Go task (CANTAB AGN). We found a group by target valence interaction on commission errors [F(2,71) = 5.34, p < 0.01, ƞ p (2) = 0.13] whereby ADHD, but not TDC participants, made more errors on negative than positive words [t(24) = -2.58, p < 0.05, r = 0.47]. In contrast, there was a nonsignificant trend for BD participants to make fewer errors on negative versus positive words compared to ADHD and TDC participants. Between-subjects effects showed that ADHD participants made more errors than TDC, but not BD participants. Our main finding advances what is known about the effect of emotional stimuli on response control in children with ADHD. Our results suggesting a positive affective processing bias in children with ADHD compliment emerging literature show that difficulties with emotional processing and regulation may be core features of ADHD. Further, given the observed pattern of results in children with ADHD compared to BD children, our behavioral results suggest the importance of examining differences in the brain-behavior mechanisms involved in affective processing in children with ADHD compared to BD children.
Divison of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 550 North Broadway Street, Suite 943, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA. kseymou2@jhmi.edu.
Karen E
KE
Seymour
Bradley Hospital's Pediatric, Mood, Imaging and Neuro Developmental (PediMIND) Program, The Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, USA.
Kerri L
KL
Kim
Bradley Hospital's Pediatric, Mood, Imaging and Neuro Developmental (PediMIND) Program, The Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, USA.
Grace K
GK
Cushman
Bradley Hospital's Pediatric, Mood, Imaging and Neuro Developmental (PediMIND) Program, The Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, USA.
Megan E
ME
Puzia
Bradley Hospital's Pediatric, Mood, Imaging and Neuro Developmental (PediMIND) Program, The Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, USA.
Alexandra B
AB
Weissman
Bradley Hospital's Pediatric, Mood, Imaging and Neuro Developmental (PediMIND) Program, The Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, USA.
Thania
T
Galvan
Bradley Hospital's Pediatric, Mood, Imaging and Neuro Developmental (PediMIND) Program, The Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, USA.
Daniel P
DP
Dickstein
D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests
Affective processing; Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; Bipolar disorder; Child psychiatry; Emotion