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的日常生活产生有害的长期影响，并被认为是由执行功能缺陷引起的。除了执行功能的问题，ADHD儿童也难以适应不断变化的环境要求，并且在任务要求稳定时表现出高反应变异性。然而，解释ADHD典型行为变异性的机制仍不明确，目前仍不清楚ADHD症状和儿童日常自我调节问题的波动如何在人与人之间和人与人之间的水平上相关联。其次，ADHD症状和自我调节能力的个体差异与ADHD儿童的长期认知发展之间的关系是一个悬而未决的问题。第三，虽然人们承认ADHD涉及神经网络水平的功能障碍，但大脑信号变异性和行为变异性之间的关系尚未得到充分理解，并且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影响ADHD相关的变异性。因此，本项目调查ADHD儿童自我调节能力的波动，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，日常和爆发到爆发，从而专注于以下研究问题：（1）。自我调节能力的波动与ADHD症状之间有什么关系？（二）大脑网络的变异性是否会导致自我调节能力、日常行为困难和多动症症状的变异性？（3.）短期波动如何随着发展而变化？（4.）大脑信号和自我调节能力的短期波动会影响长期发展吗？（五）自我调节干预如何影响认知、行为、ADHD症状或大脑信号变异性？为了研究这些问题，将从五年级开始招募140名有或没有ADHD症状的儿童及其父母/教师。采用测量突发设计，我们将在三年内进行六次微纵向突发测量，连续九个上学日进行测量。三个评估突发将提供数据，以调查因变量的短期内部波动之间的关联以及短期波动与长期发展之间的关系。此外，还将进行三次干预爆发，以研究自我调节干预对行为和大脑信号变异性及其发展的影响。

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.