An fMRI Study of the Effects of Psychostimulants on Default-Mode Processing During Stroop Task Performance in Youths With ADHD

• DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.08050724
• Publication Date: 2009-09-16T03:50:19Z
• Authors: Bradley S. Peterson; Marc N. Potenza; Zhishun Wang; Hongtu Zhu; Andrés Martin; Rachel Marsh; Kerstin J. Plessen; Shan Yu
• Keywords: Stroop effect; Stimulant; Posterior cingulate; Cingulate cortex

Objective: The authors examined the effect of psychostimulants on brain activity in children and adolescents with ADHD performing Stroop Color Word Test. Method: acquired 52 functional MRI scans 16 youths who were known responders to stimulant medication 20 healthy comparison youths. Participants scanned off a counterbalanced design, subjects once without medication. Results: Stimulant significantly improved suppression default-mode ventral anterior cingulate cortex group. When medication, unable suppress same degree as subjects, whereas when they suppressed this group levels. Greater activation lateral prefrontal predicted greater reduction symptoms Granger causality analyses demonstrated that cortices mutually influenced one another but influence was reduced relative increased normal levels Conclusions: Psychostimulants posterior cortices, components circuit which has been shown correlate mind-wandering during attentional tasks. Stimulants seem improve by normalizing within improving its interactions cortex.