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Duration discrimination in the range of milliseconds and seconds in children with ADHD and their unaffected siblings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2009

S. Himpel ,
T. Banaschewski ,
A. Grüttner ,
A. Becker ,
A. Heise ,
H. Uebel ,
B. Albrecht ,
A. Rothenberger  and
T. Rammsayer
S. Himpel*
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Goettingen, Germany
T. Banaschewski
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany
A. Grüttner
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Goettingen, Germany
A. Becker
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Goettingen, Germany
A. Heise
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Goettingen, Germany
H. Uebel
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Goettingen, Germany
B. Albrecht
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Goettingen, Germany
A. Rothenberger
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Goettingen, Germany
T. Rammsayer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Switzerland
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr S. Himpel, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Goettingen, von-Siebold-Str. 5, 37075 Goettingen, Germany. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

Detecting genetic factors involved in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is complicated because of their small effect sizes and complex interactions. The endophenotype approach eases this by coming closer to the relevant genes. Different aspects of temporal information processing are known to be affected in ADHD. Thus, some of these aspects could represent candidate endophenotypes for ADHD.

Method

Fifty-four sib-pairs with at least one child with ADHD and 40 control children aged 6–18 years were recruited and asked to perform two duration discrimination tasks, one with a base duration of 50 ms on automatic timing and one with a base duration of 1000 ms on cognitively controlled timing.

Results

Whereas children with ADHD, but not their unaffected siblings, were impaired in discrimination of longer intervals, both groups were impaired in discriminating brief intervals. Furthermore, a significant within-family correlation was found for discrimination of brief intervals. Task performances of subjects of the control group correlated with individual levels of hyperactivity/impulsivity for discrimination of brief intervals, but not of longer intervals.

Conclusions

Cognitively controlled and also automatic processes of temporal information processing are impaired in children with ADHD. Discrimination of longer intervals appears as a typical ‘disease marker’ whereas discrimination of brief intervals shows up as a ‘vulnerability marker’. Discrimination of brief intervals was found to be familial and linked to levels of hyperactivity/impulsivity. Taken together, discrimination of brief intervals represents a candidate endophenotype of ADHD.

Keywords

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorderendophenotypesduration discrimination taskautomatic timingcognitively controlled timing
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 39 , Issue 10 , October 2009 , pp. 1745 - 1751
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

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