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Review
. 2021 Apr;132(4):953-966.
doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2021.01.015. Epub 2021 Feb 5.

Sensory processing and P300 event-related potential correlates of stimulant response in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A critical review

Virginia Peisch  1 , Tara Rutter  2 , Carol L Wilkinson  3 , Anne B Arnett  4
Affiliations
Review

Sensory processing and P300 event-related potential correlates of stimulant response in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A critical review

Virginia Peisch et al. Clin Neurophysiol. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with considerable impairment in psychiatric and functional domains. Although stimulant medication can reduce core symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, a subgroup of patients does not respond to this intervention. A precision medicine approach has been proposed, whereby biomarkers are used to identify an effective treatment approach for a given individual. This review synthesizes the existing literature on event-related potential (ERP) correlates of stimulant response in children diagnosed with ADHD, with the goal of evaluating the potential for ERP to inform precision medicine care in this population. Forty-three articles were examined and results tentatively suggest that stimulant medications normalize the amplitude of the P300 component, and this is also associated with behavioral improvement. In contrast, results generally indicate that stimulants do not significantly alter early processing components, although there are some exceptions to this finding. Implications for research, theory, and clinical work are considered and concrete recommendations for future directions are provided. While recognizing limitations of existing literature (e.g., homogenous samples, variable methodologies), we conclude that ERP methods represent a promising approach for precision medicine care of patients with ADHD.

Keywords: ADHD; Biomarker; ERP; Pediatric; Pharmacological treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Event-Related Potential (ERP) Waveform
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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