High Correlation during Motor Tapping in Young Adults with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder: A Controlled Functional MRI Study

The aim of this study was to check the correlation between brain areas in participants with attention deficit-hyperactivity- disorder (ADHD) during rhythmic motor activity. Children with ADHD have abnormal motor oscillatory activity. This maybe a result of synchronous activity and high connectivity between regions involved in motor tasks. We examined correlation between brain regions using functional-MRI in six individuals with ADHD and four controls during finger tapping (according to 1-4Hz cue). We found activation in the right cerebellum, left motor cortex, bilateral basal ganglia and left supplementary motor region. Right frontal cortex was selected as a control region. Correlation between motor regions was higher in participants with ADHD compared to controls (p=0.0046). Correlations between motor and non-motor regions were low in all participants. High correlations between motor regions but not between non- motor brain regions in participants with ADHD may reflect higher synchrony between motor regions and suggests increased, connectivity during rhythmic activity.