Effect of brain structure and function on reward anticipation in children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder combined subtype (ADHD-CT) Brief title: Reward anticipation in children and adults with ADHD-CT

Background: ADHD is associated with decreased ventral-striatal (VS) responsiveness during reward anticipation. However, previous research mostly focused on adults with heterogeneous ADHD subtype and divers drug treatment status while studies in children with ADHD are sparse. Moreover, it remains unclear to what degree ADHD is characterized by a delay of normal brain structure or function maturation. We therefore attempt to determine whether results from structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging are associated with childhood and adult ADHD-CT. Methods: This study used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to compare VS structure and function of 30 participants with ADHD-CT (16 adults, 14 children) and 30 controls (20 adults, 10 children), using a monetary incentive delay (MID) task. Joint analyses of structural and functional imaging data were conducted with Biological Parametric Mapping. Results: Reward anticipation elicited decreased VS responsiveness in adults but not in children with ADHD-CT. Children and adults with ADHD showed reduced VS volume. Taking these gray matter differences into account, the results remained the same. by gest on N ovem er 4, 2016 http://scaordjournals.org/ D ow nladed from