Stop and look! Evidence for a bias towards virtual navigation response strategies in children with ADHD symptoms.
Title | Stop and look! Evidence for a bias towards virtual navigation response strategies in children with ADHD symptoms. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2016 |
Authors | Robaey P, McKenzie S, Schachar R, Boivin M, Bohbot VD |
Journal | Behav Brain Res |
Volume | 298 |
Issue | Pt A |
Pagination | 48-54 |
Date Published | 2016 Feb 01 |
ISSN | 1872-7549 |
Keywords | Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Caudate Nucleus, Child, Female, Games, Experimental, Hippocampus, Humans, Male, Maze Learning, Psychological Tests, Putamen, Quebec, Spatial Memory, Spatial Navigation, User-Computer Interface |
Abstract | Studies in children show that the development of spatial competence emerges between seven and eight years of age. Multiple memory systems (hippocampus-dependent spatial and caudate nucleus-dependent response learning) are involved in parallel processing of information during navigation. As a hippocampus-dependent spatial strategy also relies on frontoparietal executive control and working memory networks that are impaired in ADHD, we predicted that children will be more likely to adopt a response strategy as they exhibit ADHD symptoms. We tested 285 healthy children on a virtual radial-arm maze paradigm in order to test this hypothesis. We found that children displaying at least one ADHD symptom were more likely to have a perfect performance on a probe trial, which suggests that they did not rely on environmental landmarks. Children with ADHD symptoms may primarily rely on caudate nucleus-dependent response learning strategies at the expense of hippocampus-dependent spatial strategies. Repetition and reward based learning strategies, which are hallmarks of response learning, may be most effective in children exhibiting ADHD symptoms. |
DOI | 10.1016/j.bbr.2015.08.019 |
Alternate Journal | Behav. Brain Res. |
PubMed ID | 26310386 |
Grant List | 200112NET-97878-NTA-CFCF-38854 / / Canadian Institutes of Health Research / Canada |