Abnormal functional connectivity in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Child Psychiatry

Background:

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) presents with inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity.
• Emerging evidence suggests a concurrent deficit in motivation within ADHD.
• This neuropathology may stem from dysfunctions in both attention and reward-motivation brain networks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate functional connectivity differences in children with ADHD compared to controls.
• To explore the relationship between connectivity in attention and reward networks in ADHD.
• To test the hypothesis of impaired interactions between attention and reward pathways in ADHD.

Main Methods:

• Compared functional connectivity density in 247 children with ADHD and 304 typically developing controls.
• Utilized a public magnetic resonance imaging database.
• Quantified short- and long-range functional connectivity using an ultrafast data-driven approach.

Main Results:

• Children with ADHD exhibited lower short- and long-range connectivity in dorsal attention (superior parietal cortex) and default-mode (precuneus) networks, and cerebellum.
• ADHD subjects showed higher short-range connectivity in reward-motivation regions (ventral striatum, orbitofrontal cortex).
• In ADHD, the orbitofrontal cortex displayed altered connectivity with reward-motivation and attention processing regions.

Conclusions:

• Enhanced connectivity within reward-motivation regions and decreased connectivity with attention networks suggest impaired pathway interactions in ADHD.
• These connectivity alterations may underlie the attention and motivation deficits observed in ADHD.
• Findings highlight the complex interplay between attention, reward, and default-mode networks in ADHD neuropathology.