Training sensory signal-to-noise resolution in children with ADHD in a global mental health setting

Transl Psychiatry. 2016 Apr 12;6(4):e781. doi: 10.1038/tp.2016.45.

Abstract

Children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have impaired focus on goal-relevant signals and fail to suppress goal-irrelevant distractions. To address both these issues, we developed a novel neuroplasticity-based training program that adaptively trains the resolution of challenging sensory signals and the suppression of progressively more challenging distractions. We evaluated this sensory signal-to-noise resolution training in a small sample, global mental health study in Indian children with ADHD. The children trained for 30 h over 6 months in a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Training completers showed steady and significant improvements in ADHD-associated behaviors from baseline to post training relative to controls, and benefits sustained in a 6-month follow-up. Post-training cognitive assessments showed significant positive results for response inhibition and Stroop interference tests in training completers vs controls, while measures of sustained attention and short-term memory showed nonsignificant improvement trends. Further, training-driven improvements in distractor suppression correlated with the improved ADHD symptoms. This initial study suggests utility of signal-to-noise resolution training for children with ADHD; it emphasizes the need for further research on this intervention and substantially informs the design of a larger trial.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Attention
  • Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / rehabilitation*
  • Child
  • Cognition
  • Computer-Assisted Instruction / methods*
  • Cues
  • Double-Blind Method
  • Executive Function
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Goals
  • Humans
  • India
  • Male
  • Neuronal Plasticity
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Noise
  • Treatment Outcome