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Katya Rubia

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21

YNICL Journal 2022 Journal Article

Event-related brain dynamics during mind wandering in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: An experience-sampling approach

  • Natali Bozhilova
  • Jonna Kuntsi
  • Katya Rubia
  • Philip Asherson
  • Giorgia Michelini

Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) report increased spontaneous mind wandering (MW) compared to control adults. Since MW is associated with ADHD severity and functional impairment, elucidating the brain mechanisms underlying MW may inform new interventions targeting MW and point to neural markers to monitor their efficacy. Population-based electroencephalographic (EEG) studies suggest that weaker event-related decreases in occipital alpha power characterise periods of MW, but no study has examined event-related brain oscillations during MW in individuals with ADHD. Using an experience-sampling method, we compared adults with ADHD (N = 23) and controls (N = 25) on event-related EEG measures of power modulations and phase consistency during two tasks with high and low demands on working memory and sustained attention, and during periods of MW and task focus. Compared to controls, individuals with ADHD showed weaker alpha power decreases during high working memory demands and across sustained attention demands, weaker theta power increases and phase consistency across working memory demands and during low sustained attention demands, and weaker beta power decreases during low working memory demands. These EEG patterns suggest broadly deficient attentional and motor response processes in ADHD. During MW episodes, adults with ADHD showed weaker alpha power decreases in the sustained attention task and lower theta phase consistency in the working memory task compared to controls. These findings suggest that atypical EEG patterns thought to reflect reduced inhibition of task-irrelevant processes and inconsistent stimulus processing underlie increased MW in adults with ADHD and may be useful for future real-time monitoring of treatment effects.

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YNICL Journal 2021 Journal Article

Electrophysiological modulation of sensory and attentional processes during mind wandering in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

  • Natali Bozhilova
  • Jonna Kuntsi
  • Katya Rubia
  • Giorgia Michelini
  • Philip Asherson

We recently reported increased mind wandering (MW) frequency in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) relative to controls during high demands on sustained attention, reflecting deficient context regulation of MW. Studies on community samples previously linked context regulation of MW with attenuation in brain sensory processes, reflecting perceptual decoupling, and attentional processes during MW compared to task focus. However, the association between deficient context regulation of MW and these neural processes has not been studied in ADHD. We addressed this question by comparing adults with ADHD (N = 23) and controls (N = 25) on event-related potentials of early sensory processes (P1) and attention allocation (P3) during tasks manipulating cognitive demands (high vs low) on working memory and sustained attention, and during periods of MW and task focus measured through experience-sampling. Compared to controls, adults with ADHD showed reduced P1 during high sustained attention demands, as well as reduced P3 during high working memory demands. These group differences were no longer significant after adding MW frequency as a covariate. Across tasks, adults with ADHD showed no differences from controls on the P1 during MW episodes, but attenuated P1 during task focus. P3 was reduced in adults with ADHD compared to controls during MW, but not during task focus during the sustained attention task. These findings converge to indicate that impairments in early sensory processing in individuals with ADHD seem parallel to increased MW frequency and might reflect inefficient adjustments from periods of MW to task focus.

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YNICL Journal 2020 Journal Article

Neurofunctional and behavioural measures associated with fMRI-neurofeedback learning in adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

  • Sheut-Ling Lam
  • Marion Criaud
  • Analucia Alegria
  • Gareth J. Barker
  • Vincent Giampietro
  • Katya Rubia

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Neurofeedback (fMRI-NF) targeting brain areas/networks shown to be dysfunctional by previous fMRI research is a promising novel neurotherapy for ADHD. Our pioneering study in 31 adolescents with ADHD showed that fMRI-NF of the right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC) and of the left parahippocampal gyrus (lPHG) was associated with clinical improvements. Previous studies using electro-encephalography-NF have shown, however, that not all ADHD patients learn to self-regulate, and the predictors of fMRI-NF self-regulation learning are not presently known. The aim of the current study was therefore to elucidate the potential predictors of fMRI-NF learning by investigating the relationship between fMRI-NF learning and baseline inhibitory brain function during an fMRI stop task, along with clinical and cognitive measures. fMRI-NF learning capacity was calculated for each participant by correlating the number of completed fMRI-NF runs with brain activation in their respective target regions from each run (rIFC or lPHG); higher correlation values were taken as a marker of better (linear) fMRI-NF learning. Linear correlations were then conducted between baseline measures and the participants' capacity for fMRI-NF learning. Better fMRI-NF learning was related to increased activation in left inferior fronto-striatal regions during the fMRI stop task. Poorer self-regulation during fMRI-NF training was associated with enhanced activation in posterior temporo-occipital and cerebellar regions. Cognitive and clinical measures were not associated with general fMRI-NF learning across all participants. A categorical analysis showed that 48% of adolescents with ADHD successfully learned fMRI-NF and this was also not associated with any baseline clinical or cognitive measures except that faster processing speed during inhibition and attention tasks predicted learning. Taken together, the findings suggest that imaging data are more predictive of fMRI-NF self-regulation skills in ADHD than behavioural data. Stronger baseline activation in fronto-striatal cognitive control regions predicts better fMRI-NF learning in ADHD.

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YNICL Journal 2017 Journal Article

Shared and disorder-specific task-positive and default mode network dysfunctions during sustained attention in paediatric Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and obsessive/compulsive disorder

  • Luke J. Norman
  • Christina O. Carlisi
  • Anastasia Christakou
  • Ana Cubillo
  • Clodagh M. Murphy
  • Kaylita Chantiluke
  • Andrew Simmons
  • Vincent Giampietro

Patients with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and obsessive/compulsive disorder (OCD) share problems with sustained attention, and are proposed to share deficits in switching between default mode and task positive networks. The aim of this study was to investigate shared and disorder-specific brain activation abnormalities during sustained attention in the two disorders. Twenty boys with ADHD, 20 boys with OCD and 20 age-matched healthy controls aged between 12 and 18 years completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) version of a parametrically modulated sustained attention task with a progressively increasing sustained attention load. Performance and brain activation were compared between groups. Only ADHD patients were impaired in performance. Group by sustained attention load interaction effects showed that OCD patients had disorder-specific middle anterior cingulate underactivation relative to controls and ADHD patients, while ADHD patients showed disorder-specific underactivation in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex/dorsal inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). ADHD and OCD patients shared left insula/ventral IFG underactivation and increased activation in posterior default mode network relative to controls, but had disorder-specific overactivation in anterior default mode regions, in dorsal anterior cingulate for ADHD and in anterior ventromedial prefrontal cortex for OCD. In sum, ADHD and OCD patients showed mostly disorder-specific patterns of brain abnormalities in both task positive salience/ventral attention networks with lateral frontal deficits in ADHD and middle ACC deficits in OCD, as well as in their deactivation patterns in medial frontal DMN regions. The findings suggest that attention performance in the two disorders is underpinned by disorder-specific activation patterns.

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YNIMG Journal 2013 Journal Article

Effects of age and gender on neural networks of motor response inhibition: From adolescence to mid-adulthood

  • Katya Rubia
  • Lena Lim
  • Christine Ecker
  • Rozmin Halari
  • Vincent Giampietro
  • Andrew Simmons
  • Michael Brammer
  • Anna Smith

Functional inhibitory neural networks mature progressively with age. However, nothing is known about the impact of gender on their development. This study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the effects of age, sex, and sex by age interactions on the brain activation of 63 healthy males and females, between 13 and 38years, performing a Stop task. Increasing age was associated with progressively increased activation in typical response inhibition areas of right inferior and dorsolateral prefrontal and temporo-parietal regions. Females showed significantly enhanced activation in left inferior and superior frontal and striatal regions relative to males, while males showed increased activation relative to females in right inferior and superior parietal areas. Importantly, left frontal and striatal areas that showed increased activation in females, also showed significantly increased functional maturation in females relative to males, while the right inferior parietal activation that was increased in males showed significantly increased functional maturation relative to females. The findings demonstrate for the first time that sex-dimorphic activation patterns of enhanced left fronto-striatal activation in females and enhanced right parietal activation in males during motor inhibition appear to be the result of underlying gender differences in the functional maturation of these brain regions.

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YNIMG Journal 2011 Journal Article

Developmental effects of reward on sustained attention networks

  • Anna B. Smith
  • Rozmin Halari
  • Vincent Giampetro
  • Michael Brammer
  • Katya Rubia

Adolescence is typified by significant maturation in higher-level attention functions coupled with less developed control over motivation, and enhanced sensitivity to novelty and reward. This study used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in seventy male and female participants aged between 10 and 43years to identify age-related linear changes in cognitive sustained attention systems and the impact of reward on these systems, using a sustained attention task with and without a rewarded condition. For the non-rewarded sustained attention contrast, increasing age was associated with activation increases in typical regions of sustained attention including right inferior frontal, superior temporo-parietal and cerebellar cortices. Age-related activation decreases were observed within more posterior regions including posterior cingulate, insula and posterior cerebellar cortices, presumably mediating visual–spatial saliency detection. The effect of reward on sustained attention networks was associated with increased activation with age in regions associated with both executive attention control and reward processing, including dorsolateral, inferior and ventromedial prefrontal cortices (PFC), striatum, and temporo-parietal regions, suggestive of greater integration and executive control of motivation and cognition with maturity. Activation in paralimbic posterior cingulate and inferior temporal brain regions of visual–spatial saliency processing was progressively reduced in activation with increasing development. Thus, with increasing development between adolescence and adulthood, reward appears to enhance maturing cognitive sustained attention and executive reward-processing networks, whilst reducing paralimbic regions of saliency detection. These findings may be the neural underpinnings for the progressive maturation of motivational control over risk taking behaviours between adolescence and adulthood.

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YNIMG Journal 2011 Journal Article

Dissociable functional connectivity changes during the Stroop task relating to risk, resilience and disease expression in bipolar disorder

  • Francesco Pompei
  • Danai Dima
  • Katya Rubia
  • Veena Kumari
  • Sophia Frangou

Reduced cognitive control is considered a core feature of bipolar disorder (BD). Abnormalities in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and other functionally linked regions that underpin cognitive control during the Stroop Colour Word Task (SCWT) have been reported in patients with BD and their relatives. In this functional magnetic resonance study we used psychophysiological interaction analysis to examine functional connectivity during the SCWT in 39 euthymic BD patients, 39 of their first-degree relatives (25 with no Axis I disorders and 14 with major depressive disorder) and 48 healthy controls. The aim of this study was to identify potential diagnosis-specific functional connectivity changes differentiating patients with BD from their relatives with MDD, as well as functional connectivity correlates of resilience in relatives of BD patients who remain well. Psychophysiological interactions in healthy controls revealed a negative functional connectivity between the VLPFC and the ventral anterior cingulate cortex and insula and a positive connectivity between the VLPFC and the caudate and parietal cortices. Abnormalities in fronto-insular connectivity emerged as a key correlate of predisposition and disease expression for BD. Reduced fronto-cingulate connectivity was also observed in association with predisposition to BD irrespective of clinical outcome. BD patients and their MDD relatives showed additional abnormalities in frontal–basal ganglia connectivity while increased coupling between the ventral and dorsal lateral PFC was observed in relatives without any Axis I disorder. These findings suggest that during the SCWT the VLPFC and subcortical regions are involved in a dynamic interplay. Breakdown in these interactions is associated with risk and disease expression for mood disorders while increased functional coupling between dorsal and ventral prefrontal regions may reflect adaptive functional changes associated with resilience.

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YNIMG Journal 2011 Journal Article

Familial and disease specific abnormalities in the neural correlates of the Stroop Task in Bipolar Disorder

  • Francesco Pompei
  • Jigar Jogia
  • Roberto Tatarelli
  • Paolo Girardi
  • Katya Rubia
  • Veena Kumari
  • Sophia Frangou

Patients with Bipolar Disorder (BD) perform poorly on tasks of selective attention and inhibitory control. Although similar behavioural deficits have been noted in their relatives, it is yet unclear whether they reflect dysfunction in the same neural circuits. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and the Stroop Colour Word Task to compare task related neural activity between 39 euthymic BD patients, 39 of their first-degree relatives (25 with no Axis I disorders and 14 with Major Depressive Disorder) and 48 healthy controls. Compared to controls, all individuals with familial predisposition to BD, irrespective of diagnosis, showed similar reductions in neural responsiveness in regions involved in selective attention within the posterior and inferior parietal lobules. In contrast, hypoactivation within fronto-striatal regions, implicated in inhibitory control, was observed only in BD patients and MDD relatives. Although striatal deficits were comparable between BD patients and their MDD relatives, right ventrolateral prefrontal dysfunction was uniquely associated with BD. Our findings suggest that while reduced parietal engagement relates to genetic risk, fronto-striatal dysfunction reflects processes underpinning disease expression for mood disorders.

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YNIMG Journal 2011 Journal Article

Maturation of limbic corticostriatal activation and connectivity associated with developmental changes in temporal discounting

  • Anastasia Christakou
  • Mick Brammer
  • Katya Rubia

Temporal discounting (TD) matures with age, alongside other markers of increased impulse control, and coherent, self-regulated behaviour. Discounting paradigms quantify the ability to refrain from preference of immediate rewards, in favour of delayed, larger rewards. As such, they measure temporal foresight and the ability to delay gratification, functions that develop slowly into adulthood. We investigated the neural maturation that accompanies the previously observed age-related behavioural changes in discounting, from early adolescence into mid-adulthood. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging of a hypothetical discounting task with monetary rewards delayed in the week to year range. We show that age-related reductions in choice impulsivity were associated with changes in activation in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), ventral striatum (VS), insula, inferior temporal gyrus, and posterior parietal cortex. Limbic frontostriatal activation changes were specifically associated with age-dependent reductions in impulsive choice, as part of a more extensive network of brain areas showing age-related changes in activation, including dorsolateral PFC, inferior parietal cortex, and subcortical areas. The maturational pattern of functional connectivity included strengthening in activation coupling between ventromedial and dorsolateral PFC, parietal and insular cortices during selection of delayed alternatives, and between vmPFC and VS during selection of immediate alternatives. We conclude that maturational mechanisms within limbic frontostriatal circuitry underlie the observed post-pubertal reductions in impulsive choice with increasing age, and that this effect is dependent on increased activation coherence within a network of areas associated with discounting behaviour and inter-temporal decision-making.

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YNIMG Journal 2010 Journal Article

Effects of age and sex on developmental neural networks of visual–spatial attention allocation

  • Katya Rubia
  • Zoe Hyde
  • Rozmin Halari
  • Vincent Giampietro
  • Anna Smith

Compared to our understanding of the functional maturation of brain networks underlying complex cognitive abilities, hardly anything is known of the neurofunctional development of simpler cognitive abilities such as visuo-spatial attention allocation. Furthermore, nothing is known on the effect of gender on the functional development of attention allocation. This study employed event related functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate effects of age, sex, and sex by age interactions on the brain activation of 63 males and females, between 13 to 38years, during a visual–spatial oddball task. Behaviourally, with increasing age, speed was traded for accuracy, indicative of a less impulsive performance style in older subjects. Increasing age was associated with progressively increased activation in typical areas of selective attention of lateral fronto-striatal and temporo-parietal brain regions. Sex difference analysis showed enhanced activation in right-hemispheric inferior frontal and superior temporal regions in females, and in left-hemispheric inferior temporo-parietal regions in males. Importantly, the age by sex interaction findings showed that these sex-dimorphic patterns of brain activation may be the result of underlying sex differences in the functional maturation of these brain regions, as females had sex-specific progressive age-correlations in the same right inferior fronto-striato-temporal areas, while male-specific age-correlations were in left medial temporal and parietal areas. The findings demonstrate progressive functional maturation of fronto-striato-parieto-temporal networks of the relatively simple function of attention allocation between early adolescence and mid-adulthood. They furthermore show that sex-dimorphic patterns of enhanced reliance on right inferior frontal, striatal and superior temporal regions in females and of left temporo-parietal regions in males during attention allocation may be the result of underlying sex differences in the functional maturation of these brain regions.

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