Methylphenidate modifies reward cue responses in adults with ADHD: An fMRI study

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with neural hyposensitivity to reward-predicting cues. Methylphenidate is widely used in the management of the disorder's symptoms, but its effects on reward sensitivity in ADHD are unknown. The current study used fMRI to measure striatal responses to reward-predicting cues in adults with ADHD on and off methylphenidate and a control group, during a classical conditioning task. Responses to cued reward were also explored. Larger differences in the ventral striatum activation to reward cues versus non-reward cues were observed when the ADHD participants were on methylphenidate compared to placebo. In response to cued-reward outcome, an exploratory analysis showed methylphenidate reduced the BOLD time-series correlation between the dorsal striatum and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex. Methylphenidate's therapeutic effects may be mediated by altering reward processing in individuals with ADHD.