Resting frontal alpha asymmetry as a predictor of executive and affective functioning in children with neurodevelopmental differences

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Sarah R. Edmunds¹  Jason Fogler²  Yael Braverman²  Rachel Gilbert⁵  Susan Faja² 

[1] Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina;Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital;Departments of Pediatrics & Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard Medical School;Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental & Related Disabilities/Institute for Community Inclusion;Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University

关键词: autism;    Executive Function;    Emotion Regulation;    EEG;    asymmetry;    ADHD;    neurodevelopment;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1065598

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The relative difference of resting EEG frontal alpha activation between left and right hemispheres (FAA; i.e., asymmetry) correlates with global approach and avoidance tendencies. FAA may relate to problems with executive and affective functioning in children with neurodevelopmental differences, including autism and ADHD. We 1) characterize relative left vs. right FAA in autistic, ADHD, and neurotypical children (NT); and (2) investigate whether FAA predicts “hot” executive function or emotion dysregulation. Participants were 97 7- to 11-year-old autistic, ADHD, and NT Children. Children with ADHD displayed greater left (relative to right) FAA compared to autistic and neurotypical children. Children with ADHD displayed greater challenges with “hot” EF on a gambling task than autistic children, whereas children with co-occurring autism and ADHD had greater parent-reported emotion dysregulation than NT and autism-only groups. Greater left FAA predicted worse hot EF for all children but was not significantly related to emotion dysregulation. Regardless of clinical diagnosis, relatively greater left FAA relates to hot EF. While hot EF deficits may be specific to ADHD rather than autism, both together confer additive risk for emotion dysregulation. Future research should explore the functional relation between FAA, reward processing, and affect for children with different EF-related neurodevelopmental differences.

【 授权许可】

CC BY