We examined the longitudinal predictors of electrophysiological and behavioral markers of inhibitory control in adolescence. Participants were 63 adolescent boys who have been followed since birth as part of a prospective longitudinal study on the developmental pathways to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). At 17 years of age, they completed the stop-signal task (SST) while electroencephalography (EEG) was continuously recorded. Inhibitory control was evaluated by the stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) as well as by the amplitude of the event-related potential (ERP) component of N2 during successful inhibition. We found that higher inattention symptoms throughout childhood predicted reduced amplitude (i.e., less negative) of the N2 in adolescence. Furthermore, the N2 amplitude was longitudinally predicted by the early precursors of child familial risk for ADHD and early childhood temperament. Specifically, father’s inattention symptoms (measured in the child’s early infancy) and child’s effortful control at 36 months of age directly predicted the N2 amplitude in adolescence, even beyond the consistency of inattention symptoms throughout development. The SSRT was predicted by ADHD symptoms throughout childhood but not by the early precursors. Our findings emphasize the relevance of early familial and temperamental risk for ADHD to the prediction of a later dysfunction in inhibitory control.

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“我的大脑可以停止”：青春期抑制控制纵向预测的 ERP 研究

我们检查了青春期抑制控制的电生理学和行为标记的纵向预测因子。参与者是 63 名青春期男孩，他们从出生起就受到跟踪，作为注意力缺陷多动障碍 (ADHD) 发育途径前瞻性纵向研究的一部分。17岁时，他们完成了停止信号任务（SST），同时连续记录脑电图（EEG）。通过停止信号反应时间 (SSRT) 以及成功抑制期间 N2 的事件相关电位 (ERP) 分量的幅度来评估抑制控制。我们发现，整个童年时期注意力不集中症状较高，预示着青春期 N2 幅度的降低（即负值较小）。此外，N2 振幅是通过儿童 ADHD 家族风险和早期儿童气质的早期前兆进行纵向预测的。具体来说，父亲的注意力不集中症状（在孩子婴儿期早期测量）和孩子在 36 个月大时的努力控制直接预测了青春期的 N2 幅度，甚至超出了整个发育过程中注意力不集中症状的一致性。SSRT 是通过整个童年时期的 ADHD 症状来预测的，而不是通过早期的前兆来预测。我们的研究结果强调了 ADHD 的早期家族和气质风险与后期抑制控制功能障碍的预测之间的相关性。