Impulsiveness as a timing disturbance: neurocognitive abnormalities in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder during temporal processes and normalization with methylphenidate.

Rubia, K., Halari, R., Christakou, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4267-3436 and Taylor, E. (2009) Impulsiveness as a timing disturbance: neurocognitive abnormalities in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder during temporal processes and normalization with methylphenidate. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 364 (1525). pp. 1919-31. ISSN 0962-8436 doi: 10.1098/rstb.2009.0014

Abstract/Summary

We argue that impulsiveness is characterized by compromised timing functions such as premature motor timing, decreased tolerance to delays, poor temporal foresight and steeper temporal discounting. A model illustration for the association between impulsiveness and timing deficits is the impulsiveness disorder of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children with ADHD have deficits in timing processes of several temporal domains and the neural substrates of these compromised timing functions are strikingly similar to the neuropathology of ADHD. We review our published and present novel functional magnetic resonance imaging data to demonstrate that ADHD children show dysfunctions in key timing regions of prefrontal, cingulate, striatal and cerebellar location during temporal processes of several time domains including time discrimination of milliseconds, motor timing to seconds and temporal discounting of longer time intervals. Given that impulsiveness, timing abnormalities and more specifically ADHD have been related to dopamine dysregulation, we tested for and demonstrated a normalization effect of all brain dysfunctions in ADHD children during time discrimination with the dopamine agonist and treatment of choice, methylphenidate. This review together with the new empirical findings demonstrates that neurocognitive dysfunctions in temporal processes are crucial to the impulsiveness disorder of ADHD and provides first evidence for normalization with a dopamine reuptake inhibitor.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/4507
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items
Uncontrolled Keywords	impulsiveness; timing; time perception; temporal discounting; attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; methylphenidate
Publisher	The Royal Society
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item