Saccadic Movements of the Eyes in Children with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Syndrome

Abstract

Saccadic movements of the eyes were analyzed in children with the attention deficit and hyperactivity syndrome. Saccadic movements of the eyes were recorded by a special method for their isolated registration without involvement of the head and in coordination tests (eye-head, eye-hand, and eye-head-hand). Comparative analysis of saccadic movements in children with attention deficit and hyperactivity and in normal subjects was carried out. Saccades recorded in each participant in complex tests with one or two additional motor acts, such as movements of the head and hand, were compared and the changes were analyzed for the group. Children with attention deficit and hyperactivity syndrome had problem with gaze fixation on the peripheral target after the end of the saccade and these changes augmented in more complex tasks with one or two additional acts. This could be due to discrepancy between the difficulty of the task and the potentialities of the frontal cortex, more immature in these patients than in healthy children. The changes could form the objective base for disorders in the formation of reading and writing habits, often observed in children with attention deficit and hyperactivity syndrome.

The Effects of Spinal Manipulation on Oculomotor Control in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Pilot and Feasibility Study

“…This study utilized two gaze-controlled software applications (one for target acquisition and one for the reading task), generating detailed log files to generate measurement results. Reading and target acquisition tasks have previously been used to assess oculomotor control in children with ADHD and has proven to be a reliable measure in recording oculomotor changes in children with ADHD [11,27,28].…”

“…Oculomotor control changes in children with ADHD can lead to a compromised ability to suppress unwanted saccades (short jumps of eye movement off the intended target and not under conscious control [10] and reduced control of steady fixation [11]. These alterations in oculomotor control stem from poor processing speed, sensory filtering, working memory, sensorimotor integration, and executive function difficulties likely related to dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex [12,13].…”

“…Oculomotor difficulties adversely affect children's capacity for cognitive processing of visual information and can make simple reading tasks challenging [14]. Specifically, in children with ADHD, oculomotor deficits may present clinically as longer fixations, more regressive saccades, and slower, less accurate word recognition [11]. Together, these visual difficulties make reading challenging for children, more time consuming, and render it more difficult to comprehend read materials [9,15].…”

A influência da oculomotricidade e do reflexo-vestíbulo-ocular na leitura e escrita

“…Smooth-persuit as saccades eye movements are oculomotor tests that require attention 28,29 , something generally deficient in children with reading and writing 30 , being observed this lack of attention on subjects participating in the present study.…”

Saccadic dysfunction in patients with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy

“…The fourth level consists of different zones of hemispheric brain cortex: frontal, rear parietal and occipital lobes, prestriar cortex, additional eye movement fields, dorsolateral frontal eye field (Brodmann's area 8) and the posterior cingulate. Disorders in the oculomotor system have been investigated in patients with different syndromes: schizophrenia [10][11][12], attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [13][14][15], Parkinson's disease [16][17][18][19], and Alzheimer's disease [20]. However, data on HIE influence of saccadic eye movements are rather scarce.…”