Differentiating neural reward responsiveness in autism versus ADHD

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Gregor Kohls - , Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Child Neuropsychology Section, University Hospital Aachen, RWTH Aachen University (Author)
  • Heike Thönessen - , RWTH Aachen University (Author)
  • Gregory K Bartley - , Center for Autism Research (CAR) (Author)
  • Nicola Grossheinrich - , RWTH Aachen University (Author)
  • Gereon R Fink - , Cologne City Clinics (Author)
  • Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann - , RWTH Aachen University (Author)
  • Kerstin Konrad - , RWTH Aachen University (Author)

Abstract

Although attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) share certain neurocognitive characteristics, it has been hypothesized to differentiate the two disorders based on their brain's reward responsiveness to either social or monetary reward. Thus, the present fMRI study investigated neural activation in response to both reward types in age and IQ-matched boys with ADHD versus ASD relative to typically controls (TDC). A significant group by reward type interaction effect emerged in the ventral striatum with greater activation to monetary versus social reward only in TDC, whereas subjects with ADHD responded equally strong to both reward types, and subjects with ASD showed low striatal reactivity across both reward conditions. Moreover, disorder-specific neural abnormalities were revealed, including medial prefrontal hyperactivation in response to social reward in ADHD versus ventral striatal hypoactivation in response to monetary reward in ASD. Shared dysfunction was characterized by fronto-striato-parietal hypoactivation in both clinical groups when money was at stake. Interestingly, lower neural activation within parietal circuitry was associated with higher autistic traits across the entire study sample. In sum, the present findings concur with the assumption that both ASD and ADHD display distinct and shared neural dysfunction in response to reward.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)104-16
Number of pages13
JournalDevelopmental cognitive neuroscience
Volume10
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2014
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMedCentral PMC6987952
Scopus 84907308808
ORCID /0000-0003-2408-2939/work/172086029

Keywords

Keywords

  • Adolescent, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/physiopathology, Autistic Disorder/physiopathology, Brain Mapping, Child, Child Development Disorders, Pervasive/physiopathology, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Parietal Lobe/physiopathology, Prefrontal Cortex/physiopathology, Reward, Ventral Striatum/physiopathology