Neurophysiological Characterization of ADHD in Children Using EEG Signals: A Machine Learning Approach to Executive Function Networks

Abstract

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder whose clinical assessment relies mainly on behavioral and neuropsychological evaluation. This study evaluates a subject-wise machine learning framework for distinguishing children with ADHD from healthy controls using multichannel EEG-derived features. The public dataset comprised 121 participants (61 ADHD and 60 controls), with 19-channel EEG recordings sampled at 128 Hz. Signals were segmented into 4-s windows with 50% overlap, and statistical and spectral features were extracted, including mean, standard deviation, and theta-, alpha-, and beta-band power. Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), Gradient Boosting (GB), and Logistic Regression (LR) were evaluated using strict subject-wise separation. RF achieved the highest Accuracy (0.8099), F1-score (0.8160), Balanced Accuracy (0.8097), and MCC (0.6204), whereas SVM obtained the highest Sensitivity (0.8525) and ROC-AUC (0.8527). An additional subject-specific analysis based on individual alpha frequency (IAF) was performed to account for inter-individual spectral variability; mean IAF values were 8.8320 Hz for ADHD and 8.8833 Hz for controls, and the individualized-band analysis did not improve classification performance. Bootstrap confidence intervals and non-parametric tests indicated comparable performance among RF, SVM, and GB. Frontal and fronto-central channels, particularly Fz, showed the greatest model-derived contribution. Overall, the framework provides a reproducible subject-wise EEG classification approach, although external validation on independent cohorts remains necessary before clinical application.