Abnormal Functional Connectivity in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

• Published in: Biological psychiatry (1969) Vol. 71; no. 5; pp. 443 - 450
• Main Authors: Tomasi, Dardo, Volkow, Nora D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.03.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: ADHD; Attention - physiology; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - physiopathology; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - psychology; Attention deficit disorders. Hyperactivity; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Mapping - methods; Brain Mapping - psychology; Cerebellum - physiopathology; Child; Child clinical studies; Corpus Striatum - physiopathology; Databases, Factual; FCD mapping; Female; Frontal Lobe - physiopathology; Gyrus Cinguli - physiopathology; Humans; impulsivity; inattention; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - psychology; Male; Medical sciences; Motivation - physiology; networks; Neural Pathways - physiopathology; Parietal Lobe - physiopathology; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reward; reward-motivation; impulsivity; ADHD; inattention; networks; FCD mapping; reward-motivation; Human; Cartography; Impulsivity; Motivation; Attention disorder with hyperactivity; Reward; Child
• ISSN: 0006-3223; 1873-2402; 1873-2402
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.11.003

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is typically characterized by symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, but there is increased recognition of a motivation deficit too. This neuropathology may reflect dysfunction of both attention and reward-motivation networks. To test this hypothesis, we compared the functional connectivity density between 247 ADHD and 304 typically developing control children from a public magnetic resonance imaging database. We quantified short- and long-range functional connectivity density in the brain using an ultrafast data-driven approach. Children with ADHD had lower connectivity (short- and long-range) in regions of the dorsal attention (superior parietal cortex) and default-mode (precuneus) networks and in cerebellum and higher connectivity (short-range) in reward-motivation regions (ventral striatum and orbitofrontal cortex) than control subjects. In ADHD children, the orbitofrontal cortex (region involved in salience attribution) had higher connectivity with reward-motivation regions (striatum and anterior cingulate) and lower connectivity with superior parietal cortex (region involved in attention processing). The enhanced connectivity within reward-motivation regions and their decreased connectivity with regions from the default-mode and dorsal attention networks suggest impaired interactions between control and reward pathways in ADHD that might underlie attention and motivation deficits in ADHD.