Isabella Vainieri

• PhD
• Research Associate at University College London

Background Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often persists into adolescence and adulthood, but the processes underlying persistence and remission remain poorly understood. We previously found that reaction time variability and event-related potentials of preparation-vigilance processes were impaired in ADHD persisters and represented...

Background The use of mental health apps (MHAs) is increasing rapidly. However, little is known about the use of MHAs by racial and ethnic minority groups. Objective In this review, we aimed to examine the acceptability and effectiveness of MHAs among racial and ethnic minority groups, describe the purposes of using MHAs, identify the barriers to...

Objective Evidence about the etiology of the predictive associations between a diagnosis of ADHD and cognitive performance over time is scarce. Here, we examine these predictive and etiological patterns using a cross-lagged model design in a sample of 404 participants (74% males) from ADHD and control sibling pairs aged 6 to 17 years at baseline an...

Objective To investigate whether temperament dimensions, Effortful Control (EC), Surgency-Extraversion (SE), and Negative Affectivity (NA), are associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and how they relate to awakening cortisol levels, as a proxy measure of peripheral arousal. Methods Parent-rated temperament and saliva sampl...

The transition to adulthood is typically marked by changes in relationships with family members, peers, and romantic partners. Despite this, the family often maintains a prominent role in young adults’ lives. A scoping review was conducted to identify the factors that influence families’ ability or capacity to provide young people with emotional su...

Several non-mental diseases seem to be associated with an increased risk of ADHD and ADHD seems to be associated with increased risk for non-mental diseases. The underlying trajectories leading to such brain-body co-occurrences are often unclear - are there direct causal relationships from one disorder to the other, or does the sharing of genetic a...

The transition to adulthood is typically marked by changes in relationships with family members, peers, and romantic partners. Despite this, the family often maintains a prominent role in young adults’ lives. A scoping review was conducted to identify the factors that influence families’ ability or capacity to provide young people with emotional su...

Background A recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified 12 independent loci significantly associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Polygenic risk scores (PRS), derived from the GWAS, can be used to assess genetic overlap between ADHD and other traits. Using ADHD samples from several international sites, we derive...

The differential diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adulthood is complicated by comorbid disorders, but also by the overlapping of main symptoms such as inattentiveness, impulsivity, and hyperactivity with other disorders. Neuropsychological tests like continuous performance tests (CPT) try to solve this dilemma by obje...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and bipolar disorder (BD) show certain overlapping features, such as increased reaction time variability. Here, we tested whether more detailed ex-Gaussian reaction time distribution measures identify shared or disorder-specific impairments in ADHD and BD. The total assessed sample consisted of 60 wom...

Background: Emerging research suggests that a single bout of aerobic exercise can improve cognition, brain function and psychological health. Our aim was to examine the effects of high-intensity exercise on cognitive-performance and brain measures of attention, inhibition and performance-monitoring across a test-battery of three cognitive tasks. M...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and bipolar disorder (BD) often present with overlapping symptoms and cognitive impairments, such as increased fluctuations in attentional performance measured by increased reaction-time variability (RTV). We previously provided initial evidence of shared and distinct event-related potential (ERP) imp...