The Altered Brain Activation of Phonological Working Memory, Dual Tasking, and Distraction Among Participants With Adult ADHD and the Effect of the MAOA Polymorphism

Chih-Hung Ko; Tsyh-Jyi Hsieh; Peng-Wei Wang; Wei-Chen Lin; Cheng-Sheng Chen; Ju-Yu Yen

doi:10.1177/1087054715572609

The Altered Brain Activation of Phonological Working Memory, Dual Tasking, and Distraction Among Participants With Adult ADHD and the Effect of the MAOA Polymorphism

J Atten Disord. 2018 Feb;22(3):240-249. doi: 10.1177/1087054715572609. Epub 2015 Mar 16.

Authors

Chih-Hung Ko^{1

2

3}, Tsyh-Jyi Hsieh^{4

5}, Peng-Wei Wang¹, Wei-Chen Lin⁶, Cheng-Sheng Chen^{1

2}, Ju-Yu Yen^{2

7}

Affiliations

¹ 1 Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Taiwan.
² 2 Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicince, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan.
³ 3 Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang Hospital, Taiwan.
⁴ 4 Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicince, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan.
⁵ 5 Department of Radiology, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Taiwan.
⁶ 6 Department of Medical Imaging, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Taiwan.
⁷ 7 Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Taiwan.

PMID: 25777072
DOI: 10.1177/1087054715572609

Abstract

Objective: The present study aimed to reveal the brain correlates of phonological working memory (WM), dual tasking, and distraction in adult ADHD combined with the effect of polymorphisms of monoamine oxidase A ( MAOA rs1137070 Asp470Asp).

Method: A total of 29 participants with adult ADHD and 21 controls were recruited. They completed 0-back and 2-back tasks, as wells as 2-back tasks with a dual-task effect or a distracting effect, during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning.

Results: The brain activation of WM in the bilateral inferior frontal lobe, pars opercularis, was higher among the adult ADHD group. The genotype of MAOA significantly interacted with the ADHD effect in the left inferior frontal lobe, pars opercularis. Adults with ADHD had higher activation in the left lingual area in response to the dual-tasking effect.

Conclusion: The MAOA polymorphism moderated the altered activation in pars opercularis for WM among adults with ADHD. The higher lingual gyrus activation might indicate that higher attention resources are demanded to sustain the dual-task function of adults with ADHD.

Keywords: MAOA; adult ADHD; dual task; phonological; working memory.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Attention / physiology*
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / genetics*
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / physiopathology*
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / psychology
Brain / physiopathology*
Brain Mapping
Case-Control Studies
Female
Frontal Lobe / physiopathology
Functional Neuroimaging
Genotype
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Male
Memory, Short-Term / physiology*
Monoamine Oxidase / genetics*
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

Substances

Monoamine Oxidase