Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 6, 2025
Probing the Brain in Autism Using fMRI and Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Published on: September 12, 2011
Longitudinal Changes of Resting-State Networks in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and
Shania Mereen Soman1, Nandita Vijayakumar1, Gareth Ball2
1School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Insights
Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) show different brain network development than typically developing peers. ADHD involves altered connectivity between brain regions, impacting cognitive and emotional development across childhood.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Psychiatry
Background:
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder in children.
- Brain development involves significant changes in functional networks throughout childhood and adolescence.
- Understanding developmental trajectories of functional connectivity in ADHD is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate differential developmental trajectories in functional brain connectivity in children with ADHD compared to controls.
- To utilize a network-based approach to identify distinct developmental patterns.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal neuroimaging study with 175 participants (91 with ADHD, 84 controls), aged 9-14.
- Collected up to 3 waves of resting-state functional connectivity data.
- Applied network-based statistics to analyze group differences in developmental trajectories.
Main Results:
- Children with ADHD exhibited altered developmental trajectories in networks connecting cortical, limbic, visual, and higher-order cognitive regions.
- Controls showed a developmental reduction in corticolimbic connectivity, absent in the ADHD group.
- ADHD group displayed a decrease in connectivity between visual and higher-order cognitive networks, not seen in controls.
Conclusions:
- Developmental trajectories in ADHD are characterized by distinct patterns in corticolimbic and visual-cognitive networks.
- Longitudinal analysis of functional connectivity maturation is essential for understanding ADHD development.
- Findings emphasize unique developmental pathways in pediatric ADHD.
Background:
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent childhood neurodevelopmental disorder. Given the profound brain changes that occur across childhood and adolescence, it is important to identify functional networks that exhibit differential developmental patterns in children with ADHD. This study sought to examine whether children with ADHD exhibit differential developmental trajectories in functional connectivity compared with typically developing children using a network-based approach.
Methods:
This longitudinal neuroimaging study included 175 participants (91 children with ADHD and 84 control children without ADHD) between ages 9 and 14 and up to 3 waves (173 total resting-state scans in children with ADHD and 197 scans in control children). We adopted network-based statistics to identify connected components with trajectories of development that differed between groups.
Results:
Children with ADHD exhibited differential developmental trajectories compared with typically developing control children in networks connecting cortical and limbic regions as well as between visual and higher-order cognitive regions. A pattern of reduction in functional connectivity between corticolimbic networks was seen across development in the control group that was not present in the ADHD group. Conversely, the ADHD group showed a significant decrease in connectivity between predominantly visual and higher-order cognitive networks that was not displayed in the control group.
Conclusions:
Our findings show that the developmental trajectories in children with ADHD are characterized by a subnetwork involving different trajectories predominantly between corticolimbic regions and between visual and higher-order cognitive network connections. These findings highlight the importance of examining the longitudinal maturational course to understand the development of functional connectivity networks in children with ADHD.
More Related Videos
10:02Event Related Potentials ERPs and other EEG Based Methods for Extracting Biomarkers of Brain Dysfunction: Examples from Pediatric Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD
Published on: March 12, 2020
09:01A Method for Investigating Age-related Differences in the Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control Networks Associated with Dimensional Change Card Sort Performance
Published on: May 7, 2014
