Poster No:
328
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Juha Salmi1, Sofia Tauriainen2, Ana Triana2, Tarmo Nurmi2, Hanna Huhdanpää3, Minna Mannerkoski3, Eeva Aronen3, Mikhail Kantonistov4, Linda Henriksson2, Emiliano Macaluso5, Liia Merzon2
Institutions:
1University of Oulu, Kirkkonummi, Uusimaa, 2Aalto University, Espoo, Uusimaa, 3Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Uusimaa, 4University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Uusimaa, 5Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Lyon, Lyon
First Author:
Juha Salmi
University of Oulu
Kirkkonummi, Uusimaa
Co-Author(s):
Eeva Aronen
Helsinki University Hospital
Helsinki, Uusimaa
Introduction:
Naturalistic neuroscience is stirring increasing interest. However, paradigms allowing self-guided agent-environment interaction in open-ended lifelike environments have been largely lacking from pediatric neuroimaging. Whereas resting state activity reflecting intrinsic tonic background activity is only vaguely connected to behavioral effects, virtual reality (VR) tasks allow provoking the symptoms and simultaneously measuring related phasic brain dynamics. Here we used a behaviorally validated VR task to study brain functional connectivity (FC) in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Methods:
Functional magnetic resonance imaging data was collected in 39 children with ADHD and 37 typically developing (TD) children matching in age and gender. The preregistered protocol included three experimental conditions: 1) an active VR task called EPELI where participants perform everyday chores in a virtual apartment, in situations where ADHD symptoms typically manifest [1], 2) a passive naturalistic Video Viewing task, where the participants were presented with video fragments of EPELI gameplay and 3) a Resting State condition capturing intrinsic brain activity. FC was examined with network-based statistics (NBS) [2], FDR-based link-wise comparison, and graph theoretical metrics.
Results:
During EPELI VR task the ADHD group showed weaker task performance than the TD group that was observed as lower Total Score (t(54)=3.53, p<0.001) and Task Efficacy (t(57)=2.64, p<0.05). NBS indicated hyperconnectivity in the ADHD group in a widespread brain network consisting of 77 nodes and 90 edges. Most of the links in the network connected fronto-occipital, parieto-temporal, occipito-temporal, cortico-thalamic, cortico-limbic, and cortico-striatal areas. Moreover, in the TD group, stronger FC during EPELI was associated with weaker Task Efficacy reflecting poor executive control. More restricted group differences in FC were observed during the Video Viewing. FDR indicated two connections (temporo-thalamic and intra-temporal) that were stronger in the ADHD compared to the TD group. Similarly to FC in the EPELI task, there was an association between FC during Video Viewing and EPELI Task Efficacy in the TD group. There were no differences in FC between the groups in the Resting State condition.
Conclusions:
This study demonstrates the advantages of VR in studying brain functioning in neurodevelopmental disorders. The present findings suggest that active execution of goal-directed behavior (i.e., manifestation of the overt symptoms) has a key role in driving the aberrant brain connectivity in ADHD. The combination of behavioral measures in naturalistic conditions with simultaneously occurring brain activity may further increase the clinical interpretability of neuroimaging findings.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Neurodevelopmental/ Early Life (eg. ADHD, autism) 1
Perception, Attention and Motor Behavior:
Attention: Visual 2
Keywords:
Cognition
Development
DISORDERS
FUNCTIONAL MRI
Pediatric Disorders
Psychiatric
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
By submitting your proposal, you grant permission for the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) to distribute your work in any format, including video, audio print and electronic text through OHBM OnDemand, social media channels, the OHBM website, or other electronic publications and media.
I accept
The Open Science Special Interest Group (OSSIG) is introducing a reproducibility challenge for OHBM 2025. This new initiative aims to enhance the reproducibility of scientific results and foster collaborations between labs. Teams will consist of a “source” party and a “reproducing” party, and will be evaluated on the success of their replication, the openness of the source work, and additional deliverables. Click here for more information.
Propose your OHBM abstract(s) as source work for future OHBM meetings by selecting one of the following options:
I do not want to participate in the reproducibility challenge.
Please indicate below if your study was a "resting state" or "task-activation” study.
Resting state
Task-activation
Healthy subjects only or patients (note that patient studies may also involve healthy subjects):
Patients
Was this research conducted in the United States?
No
Were any human subjects research approved by the relevant Institutional Review Board or ethics panel?
NOTE: Any human subjects studies without IRB approval will be automatically rejected.
Yes
Were any animal research approved by the relevant IACUC or other animal research panel?
NOTE: Any animal studies without IACUC approval will be automatically rejected.
Not applicable
Please indicate which methods were used in your research:
Functional MRI
Behavior
For human MRI, what field strength scanner do you use?
3.0T
Which processing packages did you use for your study?
FSL
Other, Please list
-
fmriprep, network-based statistic, and brain connectivity toolbox
Provide references using APA citation style.
[1] Seesjärvi, E., Puhakka, J., Aronen, E. T., Lipsanen, J., Mannerkoski, M., Hering, A., ... & Salmi, J. (2022). Quantifying ADHD symptoms in open-ended everyday life contexts with a new virtual reality task. Journal of Attention Disorders, 26(11), 1394-1411.
[2] Zalesky, A., Fornito, A., & Bullmore, E. T. (2010). Network-based statistic: identifying differences in brain networks. Neuroimage, 53(4), 1197-1207.
No