• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.147-152
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• 2010

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the deficits in executive function in children with ADHD and anxiety disorder, and further, to characterize executive function deficits among the two groups. Methods : Subjects consisted of 60 children between the ages of 5 and 14 (16 Normal, 24 ADHD, 20 Anxiety Disorder). Neuropsychological tests (KEDI-WISC, CCTT, STROOP, WCST, ROCF) for assessing cognitive and executive function were individually administered to all subjects. Results : There were no significant differences in FSIQ or PIQ among the three groups. However, the ADHD group tended to score lower on the VIQ and subtest of similarity, vocabulary, and digit span tests. The three groups did not significantly differ with respect to CCTT test results. On the STROOP test, the ADHD group showed poor performance on the word, color, and color-word subtests. The three groups did not exhibit significant differences in WCST test results ; however, the anxiety group performed poorly belonging to below 25 percentile rank on perseverative response. On the ROCF test, the ADHD group performed poorly with respect to their organization score and in particular, regarding copy and immediate recall. The anxiety group also performed poorly with regard to organization ; however, this was limited only to immediate recall. Conclusion : Children with ADHD displayed poor inhibition and organizational abilities compared to children with anxiety and normal controls. Further, children with anxiety disorder exhibited low cognitive flexibility and voluntary problem-solving abilities compared to ADHD children and normal controls. Based on these results, we suggest that the characteristics of executive dysfunction in ADHD and anxiety disorder in children are different.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.131-140
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• 2006

Objectives : This study was conducted to investigate the deficits of executive function in children with ADHD, Asperger's Disorder(AD), and teaming disorder (LD), and to identify the differential characteristics of executive function deficits among three groups. Methods : The clinical group consisted of 46 children between the ages of 7 and 15 (16 ADHD, 16 LD, 14 AD). Neuropsychological tests for measuring cognitive function, attention and executive function were individually administered to children, and their performance scores were calculated based on the age norm for each test. Results : There was no significant difference in FSIQ, VIQ, and PIQ among the three groups. However, the AD group tended to show higher scores on the subtests of Information, Vocabulary and Digit Span, and lower score on Comprehension subtest than the ADHD and LD groups, while the LD group tended to show the lowest scores on the Information and Vocabulary subtests. On ADS, the ADHD group showed the highest omission and commission errors. All groups showed poor performances belonging to below 25 percentile ranks on executive function tests when compared to the age norms of normative group. The number of completed category on WCST was the smallest in the ADHD group, while the working memory score was the lowest in the LD group. Conclusion : These results suggest that ADHD, LD, and AD children have executive function deficit in common. However, the specific deficit areas in executive function are different for each group.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2015

Objectives : Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been shown to display more inhibitory deficits and executive function deficits. This study investigated the treatment effects of neurofeedback (NF) training on executive function by comparing the results of neuropsychological tests of the trained children at pre- and post-training. Methods : Fifteen children with ADHD, aged 6 to 14 years, participated in the study. The NF treatment consisted of slow cortical potential (SCP) training and these sessions took place once a week. The ADHD children performed 20 sessions of NF training within 6 months. Pre-training and post-training assessments encompassed Continuous Performance Test (CPT), Stroop Test, Children's Color Trails Test I&II (CCTT) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Results : Patients receiving NF training showed significant improvement in visual commission error and standard deviation of auditory response time on CPT ; and total errors on WCST. But there was no significant improvement in the Stroop test and CCTT. Conclusion : SCP training using NF improves the self-regulatory capacities and impulsivity in ADHD patient, especially impulsivity in visual stimulation tasks. This study showed evidence of clinical efficacy of NF on executive function in ADHD.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.190-196
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• 2015

Objectives : The aim of this study was to determine whether children with Tourette disorder (TD) have functional impairment and executive dysfunction in comparison to children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and non-affected controls. Methods : From January 2006 to December 2013, 45 children and adolescents with TD and 50 children and adolescents with ADHD diagnosed at the Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital and 50 non-affected controls were enrolled in this study. Functional impairment of the subjects was assessed using the Child and Adolescents Functioning Impairment Scale (CAFIS), parent and teacher versions. In addition, neuropsychological tests including Stroop color-word Test, Finger windows Test (FWT), and Digit span were administered. Outcomes were compared across the TD, ADHD, and non-affected controls. Results : No difference in CAFIS-parent and CAFIS-teacher results was observed between children with TD and non-affected controls, whereas, children with ADHD showed more impairments relative to non-affected controls in the CAFIS-parent. According to the Stroop color-word Test, FWT, and Digit span, executive function in children with TD did not differ from non-affected controls. Children with ADHD had poorer performance in measures of the Stroop color-word Test compared to children with TD. Conclusion : Children and adolescents with TD but not ADHD were not significantly different from non-affected controls on most measures of functional impairment and executive function. These findings suggest that an education program and intervention for children with TD would be important to reducing the stigma of TD.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.15-25
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• 2018

Objective : The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between motor functions and executive functions according to the timing of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods : The subjects were 32 children with ADHD aged between 6 and 12 living Busan. To assess the timing, Long Form Assessment (LFA) of Interactive Metronome (IM) was used. Bruininks-Oseretsky of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT-2) were also used to assess motor functions. STROOP Color and Word Test and Children's Color Trails Test were used to evaluate executive functions. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to determine the differences between the executive functions and the motor functions according to the timing. Results : Comparing the inter-group motor functions according to the timing, there was a statistically significant difference in the Fine manual control and Fine motor precision in BOT-2 (p<.05). Comparing the inter-group executive functions according to the timing, there was not statistically significant difference (p>.05). Conclusion : Among the deficits in ADHD children, we could see the differences between motor function and executive function according to timing function. This study would be meaningful in that the results could be a basic data for study on the timing of children of ADHD in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 1999

Objective：This study was designed to investigate the difference between executive function of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) group and that of neurotics, and to investigate the developmental aspects of ADHD group's executive function. Method：Executive function between ADHD(N=87) and Neurotics(N=19) was evaluated through their performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. The results were analyzed by 2-way ANOVA and t-test. Results：The results revealed group difference between ADHD and neurotics in total correct reponses, total error responses, nonperseverative errors, number of categories completed, conceptual level responses. There was no significant difference between the performance of 8-12 aged group and 13-15 aged group. But 7-8 aged group showed significantly poor performance than 8-12 aged in total responses, total error responses, perseverative responses, perseverative error responses, nonperseverative error responses. Conclusions：In comparison to the neurotics group, the children of ADHD group are suggested to be lacking the ability to correct their responses according to the external feedback and they probably respond randomly without self-control. However, as there is no difference between perseverative errors and perseverative responses, the interpretation of this finding warrants caution. It also suggests that the developmental aspects should be considered in the studies of executive functions because there are differences in the performance of executive functions by ages.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.92-100
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• 2008

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate 1) the neuropsychological deficits with major depressive disorder(MDD) in depressed state and 2) the changes of neuropsychological dysfunctions during depressed episodes and remitted periods in the MDD group. Methods : 12 patients with MDD and 70 normal controls who were diagnosed and classified by DSM-IV and SCID-IV interview participated in this study. The psychopathology was measured using the Hamilton rating scale for depression(HAM-D) and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale(BPRS). The memory function, executive function, and sustained attention were measured by a trained psychologist using the Korean version of Memory Assessment Scale(K-MAS), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test(WCST), and Vigilance(VIG) and Cognitrone (COG) in Vienna Test System. After 6 weeks of treatment, we retested the cognitive tests in order to measure the cognitive functions in remitted states. Results : Patients with MDD achieved significantly lower score in sentence immediately recall, verbal memory score and total memory score of the K-MAS, total errors of the WCST, response time of Vigilance and response time at "Yes" response of Cognitrone than normal controls at baseline. After 6 weeks of medication, the psychiatric symptoms in the patient group were attenuated, and most of the neuropsychological functions including attention, memory, and frontal/executive function were improved except for response time of Cognitrone. Conclusions : This study provides evidence for distinct neuropsychological deficits in patients with MDD on their depressed states and remitted periods. The impairment on response time remains after remission, and this would be a trait marker of major depressive disorder.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.63-72
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• 2017

Objectives : Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) is characterized by significant impairments in executive functions, with a prevalence of approximately 3-5% of all children worldwide. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between executive functions and electrophysiological activities in children and adolescents with ADHD. Methods : In 31 patients with ADHD, resting-state EEG was recorded, and Comprehensive Attention Test(CAT), Stroop Color-Word Inference Test(Stroop CWIT), Trail Making Test(TMT), and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test(CST) were administered. Korean version of the ADHD Rating Scale(K-ARS) was assessed. Results : Alpha and beta power positively correlated with the Attention Quotient(AQ), while delta power negatively correlated with AQ from CAT. In the Stroop CWIT, decreased delta power and increased beta power were related to higher performance. Power of the alpha band increased with higher TMT performance. Moreover, delta power negatively correlated with good performance on the CST, while alpha and high gamma band showed a positive correlation. Correlation with the parent-rating of ADHD symptoms showed a negative correlation between alpha power and higher scores on the K-ARS. Conclusions : These findings indicate that relative power in higher frequency bands of EEG is related to the higher executive function in children and adolescents with ADHD, while the association with the relative power in lower frequency bands of EEG seem to be vice versa. Furthermore, the findings suggest that QEEG may be a useful adjunctive tool in assessing patients with ADHD.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2022.05a
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• pp.394-395
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• 2022

Exergames are playing an important role in healthcare/rehabilitation. It has also been used to improve motivation among patients with reduced cognition. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility of using augmented reality (AR) with game-based cognitive-motor training programs for executive function, restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) in children with autism spectrum disorder. Sixteen children aged 6 -16 years were randomly allocated to the experimental group and control group. Outcome measures were performed before and after the intervention and included executive function, restricted and repetitive behavior. A satisfactory survey was conducted post-intervention. A statistically significant improvement was observed in working memory and cognitive flexibility in the experimental group (P<0.05). However, despite no statistical improvements in cognitive inhibition and four subscales of RRBs, promising changes were observed in all the subscales of the executive function and the behavioral outcomes. Parents appreciated the program and children enjoyed the interaction with the AR game-based training. The findings of this preliminary feasibility study showed that AR using Kinect v2 motion with a cognitive-motor game content can be used for children with autism. However, there is a need for conducting a large-scale study to evaluate his effectiveness on executive function and restricted and repetitive behaviors.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2014

Objectives : Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is often comorbid with adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other psychiatric illnesses. When associated with other mental problems, the prognosis of the AUD can be more serious. This study shows research on the clinical and neuropsychological characteristics according to whether or not ADHD symptoms and AUD were comorbid. Methods : A total of 64 adult inpatients who completed AUD scales about adult ADHD, alcohol dependence, depression, anxiety, and impulsiveness. They also completed neuropsychological tests about attention and executive function. According to the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale score, patients were categorized into two groups (ADHD symptom positive/negative group). Results : Fourteen among the 64 subjects were part of the ADHD symptom positive group (21.9%). They had statistically significant shorter abstinence periods and a higher rate of history of 'rule violation during school' and 'physical damage in childhood' compared to the ADHD symptom negative group. Conclusion : The comorbidity rate with ADHD symptom in adult AUD is higher than the general population. The ADHD symptom positive group suffered from more severe and refractory AUD. Considering the more frequent history of rule violation during school in the ADHD symptom positive group, the association between ADHD and AUD may be mediated by conduct disorder. Therefore we suggest the necessity of careful evaluation and intervention in children and adolescents with ADHD and conduct disorder.