ESMIA v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
EEG Study of Mind-Wandering in ADHD (ESMIA)
IRAS ID
226452
Contact name
Natali S Bozhilova
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder effecting 3-4% of the adult population. Adults with ADHD are at high risk of long-term negative outcomes. The cognitive and neural basis for ADHD is not yet well understood. A key feature of ADHD is excessive mind wandering (MW). Although a lot is known about the regulation of MW in the general population, this has yet to be studied in ADHD.
Here we propose to measure MW in three main ways in a sample of 25 ADHD cases and 25 controls: rating scales measures of MW; experience sampling of MW in daily life; and using experience sampling during sustained attention tasks. Experience sampling of MW is an established method in which individuals are interrupted at intervals and asked to rate whether their thoughts are related or unrelated to what they are doing.
During the sustained attention task, we will use electroencephalography to measure the brain's neural responses. Using this approach we will measure: sensory processing of visual stimuli (which are reduced when the mind wanders), and engagement of the brains executive processes (needed to process cognitive demands and focus on a task). In healthy controls, as cognitive tasks become more demanding, the brain adapts by increasing neural activity in task positive regions and reducing MW (so called ‘context regulation’). In ADHD we know context regulation of these neural processes is deficient, yet this has yet to be formally studied in relation to MW in ADHD cases compared to controls. This research will test the hypothesis that the context regulation of mind wandering and the underlying neural processes involved are deficient in ADHD compared to controls, potentially explaining one of the core symptoms of the disorder.REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NE/0188
Date of REC Opinion
15 Jun 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion