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Updated: Jul 20, 2026
An Electrophysiology Protocol to Measure Reward Anticipation and Processing in Children
Published on: October 4, 2018
Ventral striatal hyporesponsiveness during reward anticipation in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Anouk Scheres1, Michael P Milham, Brian Knutson
1Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. ascheres@u.arizona.edu
Background:
Although abnormalities in reward processing have been proposed to underlie attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), this link has not been tested explicitly with neural probes.
Methods:
This hypothesis was tested by using fMRI to compare neural activity within the striatum in individuals with ADHD and healthy controls during a reward-anticipation task that has been shown previously to produce reliable increases in ventral striatum activity in healthy adults and healthy adolescents. Eleven adolescents with ADHD (5 off medication and 6 medication-naïve) and 11 healthy controls (ages 12-17 y) were included. Groups were matched for age, gender, and intelligence quotient.
Results:
We found reduced ventral striatal activation in adolescents with ADHD during reward anticipation, relative to healthy controls. Moreover, ventral striatal activation was negatively correlated with parent-rated hyperactive/impulsive symptoms across the entire sample.
Conclusions:
These findings provide neural evidence that symptoms of ADHD, and impulsivity or hyperactivity in particular, may involve diminished reward anticipation, in addition to commonly observed executive dysfunction.
