Colour vision in ADHD: Part 1 - Testing the retinal dopaminergic hypothesis

Behavioral and Brain Functions

Rosemary Tannock⁵  Marisa Carrasco³  Umesh Jain¹  Stuart Fuller⁴  Samantha Chen⁶  Mohamed Al-Haj²  Soyeon Kim⁵ 

[1]Department of Psychiatry, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada

[2]Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada

[3]Department of Psychology and Neural Science, New York University, New York, USA

[4]Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, USA

[5]Department of Applied Psychology & Human Development, OISE, University of Toronto, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S 1 V6, Canada

[6]Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada

关键词: Sex difference;    Contrast sensitivity;    Color saturation;    ADHD;   

Others  :  1083974
DOI  :  10.1186/1744-9081-10-38

 received in 2014-05-13, accepted in 2014-10-01,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Objectives

To test the retinal dopaminergic hypothesis, which posits deficient blue color perception in ADHD, resulting from hypofunctioning CNS and retinal dopamine, to which blue cones are exquisitely sensitive. Also, purported sex differences in red color perception were explored.

Methods

30 young adults diagnosed with ADHD and 30 healthy young adults, matched on age and gender, performed a psychophysical task to measure blue and red color saturation and contrast discrimination ability. Visual function measures, such as the Visual Activities Questionnaire (VAQ) and Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test (FMT), were also administered.

Results

Females with ADHD were less accurate in discriminating blue and red color saturation relative to controls but did not differ in contrast sensitivity. Female control participants were better at discriminating red saturation than males, but no sex difference was present within the ADHD group.

Conclusion

Poorer discrimination of red as well as blue color saturation in the female ADHD group may be partly attributable to a hypo-dopaminergic state in the retina, given that color perception (blue-yellow and red-green) is based on input from S-cones (short wavelength cone system) early in the visual pathway. The origin of female superiority in red perception may be rooted in sex-specific functional specialization in hunter-gather societies. The absence of this sexual dimorphism for red colour perception in ADHD females warrants further investigation.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Kim et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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