Pupillary unrest is attenuated in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
We investigated the phenomenon of pupillary unrest in individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) compared to neurotypical controls. We measured the power of low-frequency pupil oscillations under two experimental conditions: a passive condition with minimal distraction and a resting condition with no distraction. The study included 76 adult participants (42 controls and 34 with ADHD) aged 18-40. The results show that individuals with ADHD exhibit reduced power in pupillary oscillations, suggesting a suppression of general catecholaminergic activity. The nature of the experiment indicates that this suppression is endemic in the background and independent of the visual task or the ongoing cognitive effort. This finding is consistent with our previous observations of reduced pupil dilations in ADHD during active tasks [1] and provide basic insights for future research aimed at developing and refining a psychophysical paradigm that could serve as a biomarker to enhance ADHD evaluation and classification.
Authors
- Gregory V. Simpson
- Agatha Lenartowicz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8015-8251)
- Joel T. Nigg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0003-3024)
- Stephen P. Hinshaw (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6497-1082)
- Sean Noah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9762-0430)
- James T. McCracken (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0370-0777)
- Thom Carney
- Samantha Betts (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8154-7010)
- Sarah L. Karalunas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3082-7458)
- Claudio M. Privitera
- Mercedes T. Oliva
- Stanley A. Klein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7557-3055)
Institutions
- University of Southern California (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Oregon Health & Science University (US)
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- Dr.Heiko Pult Optometry and Vision Research (DE)
- Think Surgical (United States) (US)
- Neurobehavioral Systems (US)
- SUNY College of Optometry (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Neuroscience Letters
- Published
- 2025-02-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2025.138148
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.47
Funders
- University of California, San Francisco
- National Institute of Mental Health