Neural correlates of forethought in ADHD.

Objective: The purpose of the present investigation was to delineate the neural correlates of forethought in the ADHD children relative to typically developing (TD) children.

Method: In all, 21 TD and 23 ADHD adolescents underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a forethought task. The participants had to identify congruent and incongruent stimuli from cartoon stories representing sequences of action.

Results: The findings revealed significantly greater activation in the bilateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) in TD versus ADHD children, and more activation in the cerebellar vermis in the adolescents with ADHD versus TD, during performance of the incongruent relative to congruent condition.

Conclusion: The inverse pattern of activation of the PFC and the cerebellar vermis in both groups could reflect a compensatory role played by the cerebellum or suggest the malfunction of the neural network between those regions in ADHD. Further research of the neural correlates of forethought in ADHD is warranted.