title: Feedback associated with expectation for larger-reward improves visuospatial working memory performances in children with ADHD.
abstract: We tested the interactive effect of feedback and reward on visuospatial working memory in children with ADHD. Seventeen boys with ADHD and 17 Normal Control (NC) boys underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing four visuospatial 2-back tasks that required monitoring the spatial location of letters presented on a display. Tasks varied in reward size (large; small) and feedback availability (no-feedback; feedback). While the performance of NC boys was high in all conditions, boys with ADHD exhibited higher performance (similar to those of NC boys) only when they received feedback associated with large-reward. Performance pattern in both groups was mirrored by neural activity in an executive function neural network comprised of few distinct frontal brain regions. Specifically, neural activity in the left and right middle frontal gyri of boys with ADHD became normal-like only when feedback was available, mainly when feedback was associated with large-reward. When feedback was associated with small-reward, or when large-reward was expected but feedback was not available, boys with ADHD exhibited altered neural activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and anterior insula. This suggests that contextual support normalizes activity in executive brain regions in children with ADHD, which results in improved working memory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States. Electronic address: rubi.hammer@northwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Rubi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hammer
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tennekoon
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States; Beckman Institute for Advanced Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, United States.
authors.forename: Gillian E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gayda
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, United States.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States; Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States.
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Booth
mesh_terms: D059031:Anticipation, Psychological; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D056344:Executive Function; D030141:Feedback, Psychological; D005625:Frontal Lobe; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009415:Nerve Net; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012201:Reward; D013028:Space Perception; D014796:Visual Perception
keywords: ADHD; Executive functions; Feedback processing; Reward processing; Working memory