Functional neuroimaging of visuospatial working memory tasks enables accurate detection of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.
Finding neurobiological markers for neurodevelopmental disorders, such as attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is a major objective of clinicians and neuroscientists. We examined if functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data from a few distinct visuospatial working memory (VSWM) tasks enables accurately detecting cases with ADHD. We tested 20 boys with ADHD combined type and 20 typically developed (TD) boys in four VSWM tasks that differed in feedback availability (feedback, no-feedback) and reward size (large, small). We used a multimodal analysis based on brain activity in 16 regions of interest, significantly activated or deactivated in the four VSWM tasks (based on the entire participants' sample). Dimensionality of the data was reduced into 10 principal components that were used as the input variables to a logistic regression classifier. fMRI data from the four VSWM tasks enabled a classification accuracy of 92.5%, with high predicted ADHD probability values for most clinical cases, and low predicted ADHD probabilities for most TDs. This accuracy level was higher than those achieved by using the fMRI data of any single task, or the respective behavioral data. This indicates that task-based fMRI data acquired while participants perform a few distinct VSWM tasks enables improved detection of clinical cases.
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA ; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Rubi
R
Hammer
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA ; Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA.
Gillian E
GE
Cooke
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
Mark A
MA
Stein
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA ; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA ; Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
James R
JR
Booth
D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D030141:Feedback, Psychological; D005260:Female; D019416:Head Movements; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D016015:Logistic Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
D010100:Oxygen
ADHD diagnosis; Feedback processing; Neurobiological marker; Reward processing; Visuospatial working memory