Improvement of Pursuit Eye Movement Alterations after Short Visuo-Attentional Training in ADHD

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder without validated and objective diagnostic procedures. Several neurological dysfunctions in the frontal circuit, in the thalamus, and in the cerebellum have been observed in subjects with ADHD. These cortical and subcortical areas are responsible for eye movement control. Therefore, studying eye movements could be a useful tool to better understand neuronal alterations in subjects with ADHD. The aim of the present study was firstly to compare the quality of pursuit eye movements in a group of 40 children with ADHD (age 8.2 ± 1.2) and in a group of 40 sex-, IQ-, age-matched typically developing (TD) children; secondly, we aimed to examine if a short visuo-attentional training could affect pursuit performances in children with ADHD. Findings showed that children with ADHD presented a greater number of catch-up saccade and lower pursuit gain compared to TD children. Differently to TD children, in children with ADHD, the number of catch-up saccades and the pursuit gain were not significantly correlated with children’s age. Furthermore, a short visuo-attentional training period can only slightly improve pursuit performance in children with ADHD, leading to a decrease of the occurrence of catch-up saccades only, albeit the effect size was small. The absence of any improvement in pursuit performance with age could be explained by the fact that the prefrontal and fronto-cerebellar circuits responsible for pursuit triggering are still immature. Pursuit eye movements can be used as a useful tool for ADHD diagnosis. However, attentional mechanisms controlled by these cortical structures could be improved by a short visuo-attentional training period. Further studies will be necessary to explore the effects of a longer visuo-attentional training period on oculomotor tasks in order to clarify how adaptive mechanisms are able to increase the attentional capabilities in children with ADHD.

Which Comes First in Sports Vision Training: The Software or the Hardware Update? Utility of Electrophysiological Measures in Monitoring Specialized Visual Training in Youth Athletes

“…Indeed, Caldani et al (2020) recently reported that children with ADHD and poor pursuit eye movements were able to significantly decrease the number of catch-up saccades following visual-attentional training with serial search tasks. In the Sports Vision Training realm Appelbaum et al (2016) showed that application of traditional SVT drills to collegiate athletes resulted in significant improvements in at least two sensorimotor skills on the Sensory Station: accommodative vergence facility (i.e., Near Far Quickness) and dynamic visual acuity (i.e., Target Capture).…”

Motor Capabilities in Children with ADHD Are Improved after Brief Visuopostural Training

“…To our knowledge, this study is the first to show an improvement in general motor function at the level of both ocular and body control in children with ADHD after a short training period in which children used simultaneously different sensory inputs: (i) vision input to search for a small target in a picture; (ii) proprioception and vestibular inputs to avoid falling and to keep the body upright. As previously discussed, we know that a long [ 22 ] or a short [ 24 ] oculomotor training period could improve cognitive capabilities in children with ADHD by helping them to better focus their attention and better control their impulsivity. In our study, attention was trained together with vision, because the children were asked to focus their attention in order to accomplish the search task correctly.…”

“…They reported improvements in latency and accuracy for both prosaccades as well as antisaccades, supporting the hypothesis that eye-tracker training could influence executive functions controlled by the frontal lobes. Recently, our group reported beneficial effects of a visuoattentional training on smooth pursuit performance in 8-year-old children with ADHD, showing that attentional mechanisms controlled by cortical structures could be improved by a short visuoattentional training period [ 24 ]. These findings were attributed to improvements in the prefrontal and parietal circuits.…”

Analysis of Visual Risk Factors of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury of Knee Joint

“…Meanwhile, this study can help sports lovers to pay more attention to the screening of stereo visual function. For the people who have been found to have stereo visual function defects, especially relating to the visual fusion range, we suggest that they should carry out standardized and targeted visual function training as soon as possible to restore stereoscopic visual function [ 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”