Differentiating brain function of punishment versus reward processing in conduct disorder with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

Objectives

Conduct disorder (CD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are reported to co-occur in about 30–50% of affected individuals. Research suggests that poor reinforcement-based decision-making may contribute to impaired social functioning in both youths with CD and ADHD. Considering its frequent co-occurrence this raises the question whether decision-making deficits in both disorders have a disorder-specific and/or shared neurobiological basis.

Methods

138 participants with CD, ADHD, or CD + ADHD, and typically developing controls (TDCs) aged 9–18 years (48% girls) were included in the study. Participants completed a reinforcement-based decision-making task in the fMRI scanner, investigating decision-making capabilities under different reinforcement contingencies (i.e. punishment vs. reward). Whole-brain and ROI analyses were used to test for potential group differences.

Results

For punishment versus reward contingencies, relative to TDCs, youths with CD + ADHD displayed lower brain activity in dorsal striatum (incl. caudate), middle temporal gyrus (MTG), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and lateral occipital cortex, and they showed lower activity in dorsal striatum (incl. putamen), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and IFG relative to participants with ADHD. All other group comparisons were found to be non-significant.

Conclusions

Participants with comorbid CD + ADHD are neurobiologically the most severely impaired group regarding reinforcement-based decision-making, particularly in response to punishment.

Keywords:

• Conduct disorder
• attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
• reinforcement learning
• punishment
• fMRI

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013] under Grant Agreement no. 602407 (FemNAT-CD, coordinator: Christine M. Freitag).