Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent
neurobehavioral disorders in children and adolescents. Its high incidence has awakened the
interest of several researchers, mainly in search of its causes. However, despite the efforts,
the disorder etiology remains unclear and its diagnosis perseveres eminently in the clinical
character.In the perspective of a better understanding of the disorder, the present study
sought to investigate cognitive and cerebral functioning in children with ADHD, using
electroencephalogram (qEEG) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - WISC
IV; perform the correlation between the two instruments; and, explore a possible
association of this pathology with environmental variables.The participants of this study
were divided between the experimental group and the control group, composed of children
from 06 to 12 years of age, of both sexes, respectively, with and without the diagnosis of
ADHD. The 21-channel EEG was used to record resting neuronal activity, followed by the
spectral decomposition of the 4 to 45 Hz frequency bands, divided into the theta, alpha,
beta and gamma bands. The cognitive functioning was determined through the WISC IV,
which in addition to the total IQ provided information on the following indexes: Verbal
Comprehension Index (ICV), Operational Memory Index (IMO), Processing Speed Index
(IVP) Perceptual (IOP). Sociodemographic questionnaires were used to collect the
variables. The results of this research evidenced that in addition to the experimental group
demonstrate a greater relationship with unfavorable psychosocial factors, it also presents
lower scores in the WISC-IV and greater amplitudes in the frequencies of neuronal
oscillations, studied in relation to the children in the control group. The correlation
between qEEG and WISC IV results showed moderate and significant negative
correlations of gamma frequency amplitude in both hemispheres with ICV and IVP indices
in the control group, but not in the experimental group, as well as moderate negative and
significant correlation of the frequency in the left hemisphere and IQ in the same group.
The results obtained are in accordance with the majority of data found in the literature.
Insofar as this disorder is multicausal, the union of the fields of knowledge offered in this
work is important because it enables a more comprehensive understanding of the
phenomenon through the association between brain, behavior and cognition.
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