Inhibitory function and sustained attention following galvanic vestibular stimulation in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

In recent years, galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) has been used as an effective method in rehabilitation and treatment of psychological disorders in children and adults. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of GVS on response inhibition and susta ined attention in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Seventeen children with ADHD, within the age range of 9−12 years, participated in this study. All participants were exposed to the go/no-go task. The behavioral outcomes and event-related potentials were recorded at baseline status, in sham condition, and after 20 minutes of exposure to GVS polarities, with an anode on the right mastoid region and a cathode on the left mastoid region.

The results showed that there was a significant difference in reducing the behavioral response of the commission error (p < 0.05). But the reduction in behavioral responses to omission error and reaction time were not significant (p > 0.05). However, regarding ERPs, reduced latencies and increased amplitudes of N2 and P3 waves were observed in GVS intervention, compared to the baseline and sham conditions (p < 0.05).

The present results indicated the potential of GVS in improving of cognition function in children with ADHD and could help us develop a new strategy for rehabilitation of response inhibition disorders in the future.