Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that, in addition to inattention, excessive activity, or impulsivity, makes it difficult for children to process facial emotions and thus to interact with their peers. Here we analyze neuronal networks of children with this disorder by means of the phase-locking value (PLV) method. In particular, we determine the level of phase synchronization between 62 EEG channels of 22 healthy boys and 22 boys with ADHD, recorder whilst observing facial emotions of anger, happiness, neutrality, and sadness. We construct neuronal networks based on the gamma sub-band, which according to previous studies, shows the highest response to emotional stimuli. We find that the functional connectivity of the frontal and occipital lobes in the ADHD group is significantly (P-value < 0.01) higher than in the healthy group. More functional connectivity in these lobes shows more phase synchronization between the neurons of these brain regions, representing some problems in the brain emotional processing center in the ADHD group. The shortest path lengths in these lobes are also significantly (P-value < 0.01) higher in the ADHD group than in the healthy group. This result indicates less efficiency of information transmission and segregation in occipital and frontal lobes of ADHD neuronal networks, responsible for visual and emotional processing in the brain, respectively. We hope that our approach will help obtain further insights into ADHD with methods of network science.

注意缺陷多动障碍 (ADHD) 是一种常见的神经发育障碍，除了注意力不集中、过度活动或冲动外，还使儿童难以处理面部情绪，从而与同龄人互动。在这里，我们通过锁相值 (PLV) 方法分析患有这种疾病的儿童的神经元网络。特别是，我们确定了 22 名健康男孩和 22 名患有 ADHD 的男孩的 62 个 EEG 通道之间的相位同步水平，记录仪同时观察愤怒、快乐、中立和悲伤的面部情绪。我们基于伽马子带构建神经元网络，根据之前的研究，它显示出对情绪刺激的最高反应。我们发现 ADHD 组额叶和枕叶的功能连通性显着（P值 < 0.01) 高于健康组。这些脑叶中更多的功能连接表明这些大脑区域的神经元之间的相位同步更多，代表了 ADHD 组大脑情绪处理中心的一些问题。ADHD 组中这些叶的最短路径长度也显着高于健康组（ P值 < 0.01）。这一结果表明，ADHD 神经元网络的枕叶和额叶的信息传递和分离效率较低，分别负责大脑中的视觉和情绪处理。我们希望我们的方法将有助于通过网络科学方法进一步了解 ADHD。