Dissociation of working memory impairments and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the brain
Prevailing neuropsychological models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) propose that ADHD arises from deficits in executive functions such as working memory, but accumulating clinical evidence suggests a dissociation between ADHD and executive dysfunctions. This study examined whethe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2016-01-01
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| Series: | NeuroImage: Clinical |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158215300437 |
| _version_ | 1818550361824165888 |
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| author | Aaron T. Mattfeld Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli Joseph Biederman Thomas Spencer Ariel Brown Ronna Fried John D.E. Gabrieli |
| author_facet | Aaron T. Mattfeld Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli Joseph Biederman Thomas Spencer Ariel Brown Ronna Fried John D.E. Gabrieli |
| author_sort | Aaron T. Mattfeld |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Prevailing neuropsychological models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) propose that ADHD arises from deficits in executive functions such as working memory, but accumulating clinical evidence suggests a dissociation between ADHD and executive dysfunctions. This study examined whether ADHD and working memory capacity are behaviorally and neurobiologically separable using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants diagnosed with ADHD in childhood who subsequently remitted or persisted in their diagnosis as adults were characterized at follow-up in adulthood as either impaired or unimpaired in spatial working memory relative to controls who never had ADHD. ADHD participants with impaired spatial working memory performed worse than controls and ADHD participants with unimpaired working memory during an n-back working memory task while being scanned. Both controls and ADHD participants with unimpaired working memory exhibited significant linearly increasing activation in the inferior frontal junction, precuneus, lingual gyrus, and cerebellum as a function of working-memory load, and these activations did not differ significantly between these groups. ADHD participants with impaired working memory exhibited significant hypoactivation in the same regions, which was significantly different than both control participants and ADHD participants with unimpaired working memory. These findings support both a behavioral and neurobiological dissociation between ADHD and working memory capacity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T08:45:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c8be970868394873b925a8d47cdbf789 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2213-1582 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T08:45:26Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | NeuroImage: Clinical |
| spelling | doaj.art-c8be970868394873b925a8d47cdbf7892022-12-22T00:30:33ZengElsevierNeuroImage: Clinical2213-15822016-01-0110C27428210.1016/j.nicl.2015.12.003Dissociation of working memory impairments and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the brainAaron T. Mattfeld0Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli1Joseph Biederman2Thomas Spencer3Ariel Brown4Ronna Fried5John D.E. Gabrieli6McGovern Institute for Brain Research and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAMcGovern Institute for Brain Research and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAClinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Massachusetts General Hospital, MA 02114, USAClinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Massachusetts General Hospital, MA 02114, USAClinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Massachusetts General Hospital, MA 02114, USAClinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Massachusetts General Hospital, MA 02114, USAMcGovern Institute for Brain Research and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAPrevailing neuropsychological models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) propose that ADHD arises from deficits in executive functions such as working memory, but accumulating clinical evidence suggests a dissociation between ADHD and executive dysfunctions. This study examined whether ADHD and working memory capacity are behaviorally and neurobiologically separable using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants diagnosed with ADHD in childhood who subsequently remitted or persisted in their diagnosis as adults were characterized at follow-up in adulthood as either impaired or unimpaired in spatial working memory relative to controls who never had ADHD. ADHD participants with impaired spatial working memory performed worse than controls and ADHD participants with unimpaired working memory during an n-back working memory task while being scanned. Both controls and ADHD participants with unimpaired working memory exhibited significant linearly increasing activation in the inferior frontal junction, precuneus, lingual gyrus, and cerebellum as a function of working-memory load, and these activations did not differ significantly between these groups. ADHD participants with impaired working memory exhibited significant hypoactivation in the same regions, which was significantly different than both control participants and ADHD participants with unimpaired working memory. These findings support both a behavioral and neurobiological dissociation between ADHD and working memory capacity.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158215300437ADHDn-BackfMRILongitudinalWorking memory |
| spellingShingle | Aaron T. Mattfeld Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli Joseph Biederman Thomas Spencer Ariel Brown Ronna Fried John D.E. Gabrieli Dissociation of working memory impairments and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the brain NeuroImage: Clinical ADHD n-Back fMRI Longitudinal Working memory |
| title | Dissociation of working memory impairments and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the brain |
| title_full | Dissociation of working memory impairments and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the brain |
| title_fullStr | Dissociation of working memory impairments and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the brain |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dissociation of working memory impairments and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the brain |
| title_short | Dissociation of working memory impairments and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the brain |
| title_sort | dissociation of working memory impairments and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the brain |
| topic | ADHD n-Back fMRI Longitudinal Working memory |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158215300437 |
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