FRONTAL, TEMPORAL AND LATERALIZED BRAIN-FUNCTION IN CHILDREN WITH ATTENTION-DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER - A PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT ON DEVELOPMENT

This article considers deficits in the selective aspects of perception underlying symptoms of impaired attention and impulsivity in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity syndrome (ADHD) in terms of fron tal and temporal lobe function and cerebral asymmetry. Tomographic stu dies suggest a disturbed fronto-striatal function, but have neglected limbic contributions under activating conditions and are equivocal on the nature of apparent lateralized differences. Neuropsychological and psychophysiological studies suggest that early and late stages of inf ormation processing are affected in both the frontal and temporal lobe s and imply impaired intercortical dialog. Given the evidence for a no rmal specialization in global processing in the right and the processi ng of details in the left hemisphere, the lateralized impairment may p rogress from situational ADHD (impaired selective aspects of perceptio n on the right) to pervasive ADHD (additional impairment in decision-m aking on the left). Accordingly some ADHD children may experience an e arly negative neurodevelopmental influence that only appears as the br ain region matures while others show a delayed development of CNS func tion. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.