Differentiating the neurobiological correlates for reading gains in children with reading difficulties with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder using fMRI.

Objective: Reading difficulties (RD) frequently co-occur with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and children with both RD + ADHD often demonstrate greater challenges in reading and executive functions (EF) than those with RD-only.

Methods: This study examined the effect of a 4-week EF-based reading intervention on behavioral and neurobiological correlates of EF among 8-12 y.o.

Reconfiguration of functional brain network organization and dynamics with changing cognitive demands in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Background: The pathophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by atypical brain network organization and dynamics. Although functional brain networks adaptively reconfigure across cognitive contexts, previous studies have largely focused on network dysfunction during the resting-state. This preliminary study examined how functional brain network organization and dynamics flexibly reconfigure across rest and two cognitive control tasks with different cognitive demands in 30 children with ADHD and 36 typically developing (TD) children (8-12 years).

An executive-functions-based reading training enhances sensory-motor systems integration during reading fluency in children with dyslexia.

The Simple View of Reading model suggests that intact language processing and word decoding lead to proficient reading comprehension, with recent studies pointing at executive functions as an important component contributing to reading proficiency. Here, we aimed to determine the underlying mechanism(s) for these changes. Participants include 120 8- to 12-year-old children (n = 55 with dyslexia, n = 65 typical readers) trained on an executive functions-based reading program, including pre/postfunctional MRI and behavioral data collection.

Localized alterations in cortical thickness and sulcal depth of the cingulo-opercular network in relation to lower reading fluency skills in children with dyslexia.

The traditional models of reading development describe how language processing and word decoding contribute to reading comprehension and how impairments in word decoding, a defining feature of dyslexia, affect reading comprehension outcomes. However, these models do not include word and sentence reading (contextual reading) fluency, both of which engage executive functions, with notably decreased performance in children with dyslexia. In the current study, we compared cortical thickness and sulcal depth (CT/SD) in the cingulo-opercular (CO) executive functions brain network in children with dyslexia and typical readers and examined associations with word vs.

The Impact of Sex on Cognitive Control in ADHD: Girls Slow to Inhibit, Boys Inhibit Less, and Both Show Higher Response Variability.

Objective: To determine whether girls and boys with ADHD show distinct impairments in components of cognitive control across multiple tasks (go/no-go, stop signal, and flanker) and performance metrics (response speed, variability, and errors).

Method: A total of 300 children, ages 8 to 12 years with ADHD ( = 210, 58 girls) or typically developing (TD;  = 99, 37 girls), completed all tasks. Traditional response measures (e.

Executive functions-based reading training engages the cingulo-opercular and dorsal attention networks.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a computerized executive functions (EFs)-based reading intervention on neural circuits supporting EFs and visual attention. Seed-to-voxel functional connectivity analysis was conducted focusing on large-scale attention system brain networks, during an fMRI reading fluency task. Participants were 8- to 12-year-old English-speaking children with dyslexia ( = 43) and typical readers ( = 36) trained on an EFs-based reading training ( = 40) versus math training ( = 39).

ADHD-related sex differences in frontal lobe white matter microstructure and associations with response control under conditions of varying cognitive load and motivational contingencies.

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) demonstrate reduced response inhibition, increased response time variability, and atypical frontal lobe white matter microstructure with emerging evidence of sex differences. This study aims to examine whether frontal lobe white matter microstructure is differentially impacted in ADHD by sex and whether this relates to Go/No-Go (GNG) task performance. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) from 187 children (8-12 years), including ADHD (n = 94) and typically developing controls (TD; n = 93).

Fluent contextual reading is associated with greater synchronization of the visual and auditory networks, fluent reading and better speed of processing in children with dyslexia.

The asynchrony theory of dyslexia postulates weaker visual (orthographical processing) and auditory (phonological processing) network synchrony in dyslexic readers. The weaker visual-auditory network synchronization is suggested to contribute to slow processing speed, which supports cognitive control, contributing to single-word reading difficulty and lower reading fluency. The current study aims to determine the neurobiological signature for this theory and to examine if prompting enhanced reading speed through deleted text is associated with a greater synchronization of functional connectivity of the visual and auditory networks in children with dyslexia and typical readers (TRs).

Developmental deviation in delay discounting as a transdiagnostic indicator of risk for child psychopathology.

Background: The tendency to prefer smaller, immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards is known as delay discounting (DD). Developmental deviations in DD may be key in characterizing psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Recent work empirically supported DD as a transdiagnostic process in various psychiatric disorders.

Sex Differences and Behavioral Associations with Typically Developing Pediatric Regional Cerebellar Gray Matter Volume.

The cerebellum contributes to motor and higher-order control throughout neurodevelopment, with marked growth during childhood. Few studies have investigated differential associations of cerebellar morphometry with function in males and females. The present study examines sex differences in regional cerebellar gray matter volume (GMV) and the moderating effect of sex on the relationship between GMV and motor, cognitive, and emotional functions in a large cohort of typically developing (TD) children.

ADHD-related sex differences in emotional symptoms across development.

To investigate developmental changes in emotion dysregulation (ED) and associated symptoms of emotional lability, irritability, anxiety, and depression, among girls and boys with and without ADHD from childhood through adolescence. Data were collected from a sample of 8-18-year-old children with (n = 264; 76 girls) and without (n = 153; 56 girls) ADHD, with multiple time-points from a subsample of participants (n = 121). Parents and youth completed rating scales assessing child ED, emotional lability, irritability, anxiety, and depression.

Sex differences in atypical fronto-subcortical structural connectivity among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Associations with delay discounting.

Purpose: Atypical fronto-subcortical neural circuitry has been implicated in the pathophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including connections between prefrontal cortical regions involved in top-down cognitive control and subcortical limbic structures (striatum and amygdala) involved in bottom-up reward and emotional processing. The integrity of fronto-subcortical connections may also relate to interindividual variability in delay discounting, or a preference for smaller, immediate over larger, delayed rewards, which is associated with ADHD, with recent evidence of ADHD-related sex differences.

Methods: We applied diffusion tensor imaging to compare the integrity of the white matter connections within fronto-subcortical tracts among 187 8-12 year-old children either with ADHD ((n = 106; 29 girls) or typically developing (TD) controls ((n = 81; 28 girls).

Mindful Movement Intervention Applied to at Risk Urban School Children for Improving Motor, Cognitive, and Emotional-Behavioral Regulation.

Objectives: Preliminary evidence has supported the notion that mindful movement-based practices may offer benefits for self-regulation, particularly for vulnerable children. However, this evidence has principally stemmed from subjective assessments of behavioral change, leaving the underlying mechanisms undetermined. The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of an in-school mindful movement intervention (MMI) for at-risk children within an urban public school for enhancing motor, cognitive, and emotional-behavioral regulation, including control of disruptive and inattentive behaviors characteristic of ADHD.

Neurobehavioral phenotypes of delay discounting and cognitive control in child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and obesity: Shared or distinct?

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obesity have been independently associated with deficient cognitive control (CC) and heightened preference for immediate reward.

Objectives: We aimed to identify specific shared and distinct neurobehavioral phenotypes of child obesity and ADHD by simultaneously measuring CC and preference for immediate reward in children with and without ADHD who varied in body weight.

Methods: This case-control study included 323 8-12 year olds (ADHD n = 215, typically developing (TD) screened for ADHD symptoms [TD] controls n = 108) varying in body weight.

Characterizing different cognitive and neurobiological profiles in a community sample of children using a non-parametric approach: An fMRI study.

Executive Functions (EF) is an umbrella term for a set of mental processes geared towards goal-directed behavior supporting academic skills such as reading abilities. One of the brain's functional networks implicated in EF is the Default Mode Network (DMN). The current study uses measures of inhibitory control, a main sub-function of EF, to create cognitive and neurobiological "inhibitory control profiles" and relate them to reading abilities in a large sample (N = 5055) of adolescents aged 9-10 from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study.

Structural white matter characteristics for working memory and switching/inhibition in children with reading difficulties: The role of the left superior longitudinal fasciculus.

Reading difficulties (RDs) are characterized by slow and inaccurate reading as well as additional challenges in cognitive control (i.e., executive functions, especially in working memory, inhibition, and visual attention).

Reduced basal ganglia tissue-iron concentration in school-age children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is localized to limbic circuitry.

Dopamine-related abnormalities in the basal ganglia have been implicated in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Iron plays a critical role in supporting dopaminergic function, and reduced brain iron and serum ferritin levels have been linked to ADHD symptom severity in children. Furthermore, the basal ganglia is a central brain region implicated in ADHD psychopathology and involved in motor and reward functions as well as emotional responding.

Beyond massive univariate tests: Covariance regression reveals complex patterns of functional connectivity related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, age, sex, and response control.

Background: Studies of brain functional connectivity (FC) typically involve massive univariate tests, performing statistical analysis on each individual connection. In this study we apply a novel whole-matrix regression approach referred to as Covariate Assisted Principal (CAP) regression to identify resting-state FC brain networks associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and response control.

Methods: Participants included 8-12 year-old children with ADHD (n=115, 29 girls) and typically developing controls (n=102, 35 girls) who completed a resting-state fMRI scan and a go/no-go task (GNG).

Frontal corticostriatal functional connectivity reveals task positive and negative network dysregulation in relation to ADHD, sex, and inhibitory control.

Frontal corticostriatal circuits (FCSC) are involved in self-regulation of cognition, emotion, and motor function. While these circuits are implicated in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the literature establishing FCSC associations with ADHD is inconsistent. This may be due to study variability in considerations of how fMRI motion regression was handled between groups, or study specific differences in age, sex, or the striatal subregions under investigation.

The role of visual attention in dyslexia: Behavioral and neurobiological evidence.

Poor phonological processing has typically been considered the main cause of dyslexia. However, visuo-attentional processing abnormalities have been described as well. The goal of the present study was to determine the involvement of visual attention during fluent reading in children with dyslexia and typical readers.

Increased integration between default mode and task-relevant networks in children with ADHD is associated with impaired response control.

Default mode network (DMN) dysfunction is theorized to play a role in attention lapses and task errors in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In ADHD, the DMN is hyperconnected to task-relevant networks, and both increased functional connectivity and reduced activation are related to poor task performance. The current study extends existing literature by considering interactions between the DMN and task-relevant networks from a brain network perspective and by assessing how these interactions relate to response control.

Motor cortex modulation and reward in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, the most prevalent developmental disorder in childhood, is a biologically heterogenous condition characterized by impaired attention and impulse control as well as motoric hyperactivity and anomalous motor skill development. Neuropsychological testing often demonstrates impairments in motivation and reward-related decision making in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, believed to indicate dysfunction of the dopamine reward pathway. Development of reliable, non-invasive, easily obtained and quantitative biomarkers correlating with the presence and severity of clinical symptoms and impaired domains of function could aid in identifying meaningful attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder subgroups and targeting appropriate treatments.

Neuropsychiatric disease classification using functional connectomics - results of the connectomics in neuroimaging transfer learning challenge.

Large, open-source datasets, such as the Human Connectome Project and the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange, have spurred the development of new and increasingly powerful machine learning approaches for brain connectomics. However, one key question remains: are we capturing biologically relevant and generalizable information about the brain, or are we simply overfitting to the data? To answer this, we organized a scientific challenge, the Connectomics in NeuroImaging Transfer Learning Challenge (CNI-TLC), held in conjunction with MICCAI 2019. CNI-TLC included two classification tasks: (1) diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) within a pre-adolescent cohort; and (2) transference of the ADHD model to a related cohort of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) patients with an ADHD comorbidity.