Differential prefrontal cortex activation during inhibitory control in adolescents with and without childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

The authors examined inhibitory control processes in 8 adolescents diagnosed with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during childhood and in 8 adolescent control participants using functional MRI with the Stimulus and Response Conflict Tasks (K. W. Nassauer & J. M. Halperin, 2003). No group differences in performance were evident on measures of interference control and/or response competition created by location and direction stimuli. However, the ADHD group demonstrated significantly greater activation of the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex during interference control as well as greater activation of the left anterior cingulate cortex, right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and left basal ganglia during the dual task of interference control and response competition. The magnitude of the prefrontal and basal ganglia activation was positively correlated with severity of ADHD. Response competition alone did not yield group differences in activation.