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DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1220686
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York
Differential Patterns of Brain Activation over Time in Adolescents with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) during Performance of a Sustained Attention Task
Publication History
received 24.03.2008
accepted 24.03.2009
Publication Date:
28 July 2009 (online)
Abstract
Objective: Recent morphometric studies suggest that children with ADHD may demonstrate differential or delayed brain development compared with children without ADHD. This study examines the developmental course of brain activation patterns during the performance of an attention task.
Method: Ten adolescents with ADHD and 14 healthy comparison adolescents performed a continuous performance task in an fMRI twice, one year apart.
Results: In the absence of performance differences, children with ADHD and healthy comparison subjects activated frontal-parietal regions while performing an attention task at initial testing. Children with ADHD appeared to require continued use of the right middle frontal gyrus during administration of testing one year apart while healthy comparison subjects did not activate this region at the time of the second testing.
Conclusions: There appear to be developmental differences in brain activation patterns on an attentional task between ADHD and healthy controls. More research is needed for examining the longitudinal course of functional brain activation in children with ADHD.
Key words
ADHD - development - fMRI - attention
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Correspondence
J. N. EpsteinPhD
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Box 10006
3333 Burnet Ave
Cincinnati
OH 45229
USA
Phone: +1/513/636 82 96
Fax: +1/513/636 07 55
Email: jeff.epstein@cchmc.org