Adaptive Dynamics of Cognitive and Behavioral Variability in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Long-Term Effects, Neural Bases, and Susceptibility to Intervention

注意力不集中、多动和冲动等ADHD症状会对受影响的人在日常生活中产生有害的长期影响，并被认为是由执行功能缺陷引起的。除执行功能问题外，ADHD儿童还难以适应不断变化的环境要求，当任务要求稳定时，反应变异性很高。然而，解释ADHD-典型行为变异性的机制仍未明确，也不清楚ADHD症状的波动和儿童日常自我调节问题在人与人之间和人内的水平上是如何联系的。其次，ADHD症状和自我调节能力的人内差异如何与ADHD儿童的长期认知发展有关，这是一个悬而未决的问题。第三，虽然ADHD涉及神经网络水平的功能障碍，但对大脑信号变异性和行为变异性之间的关系还没有充分了解，也不清楚大脑信号变异性如何与ADHD症状的发展相关。最后，到目前为止，我们还不知道自我调节干预是否能在行为和大脑水平上积极地影响与ADHD相关的变异性。因此，本项目结合在不同时间尺度上测量的重要发展结果变量：试验到试验、日常和突发到突发，调查ADHD儿童自我调节能力的波动，从而集中于以下研究问题：(1)自我调节能力的波动与ADHD症状之间有什么关系？大脑网络的可变性是否会导致自我调节能力、日常行为困难和ADHD症状的可变性？短期波动如何在发展中发生变化？大脑信号和自我调节能力的短期波动是否会影响长期发展？自我调节干预对认知、行为、ADHD症状或脑信号变异性有何影响？为了探索这些研究问题，将从五年级开始招募140名有ADHD症状和没有ADHD症状的儿童及其父母/教师。应用测量突发设计，我们将在三年内进行六次微纵向突发，连续九个上学日进行测量。三次评估将提供数据，以调查因变量中人内短期波动与短期波动和长期发展之间的关系。此外，还将进行三次干预，以调查自我调节干预对行为和脑信号变异性的影响，以及对其发育的影响。

ADHD symptoms such as inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity lead to detrimental long-term effects in everyday life for affected persons and are assumed to arise from executive function deficits. Next to problems of executive function, children with ADHD also have difficulties adapting to changing environmental demands and show high response variability when task demands are stable. However, mechanisms that account for ADHD-typical behavioral variability are still unspecified and it remains unclear how fluctuations in ADHD symptoms and in everyday self-regulatory problems in children are associated on a between- and within-person level. Secondly, it is an open question how within-person variability in ADHD symptoms and self-regulatory abilities relates to long-term cognitive development of children with ADHD. Third, while it is acknowledged that ADHD involves dysfunctions at the level of neural networks, the relationship between brain signal variability and behavioral variability is not sufficiently understood, and it is unclear how brain signal variability is related to the development of ADHD symptoms. Finally, we do so far not know whether self-regulation interventions can positively influence ADHD-related variability at both the behavioral and brain level. Therefore, this project investigates fluctuations in self-regulation abilities in children with ADHD, in combination with important developmental outcome variables measured on different temporal scales: trial-to-trial, day-to-day, and burst-to-burst, thereby focusing on the following research questions: (1.) What is the relationship between fluctuations in self-regulation abilities and ADHD symptoms? (2.) Does variability in brain networks contribute to variability in self-regulation abilities, everyday behavioral difficulties, and ADHD symptoms? (3.) How do short-term fluctuations change over development? (4.) Do short-term fluctuations of brain signals and self-regulation abilities influence long-term development? (5.) How is cognitive, behavioral, ADHD symptom, or brain signal variability influenced by self-regulation interventions? To pursue these research questions, 140 children with and without ADHD symptoms and their parents/teachers will be recruited starting in Grade 5. Applying a measurement burst design, we will conduct six micro-longitudinal bursts over three years with measurements taken on nine consecutive school days. Three assessment bursts will provide data to investigate the association between short-term within-person fluctuations in dependent variables and the relationship between short-term fluctuations and long-term development. In addition, three intervention bursts will be conducted to investigate the effects of self-regulation interventions on behavioral and brain signal variability, as well as on their development.