Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Relationship Between Grey-Matter and ASD and ADHD Traits in Typical Adults

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We tested whether in 85 healthy adults (18–29 years) there is a relationship between grey-matter (GM) volume and autism and ADHD symptom severity. The structural MRI findings and autism and ADHD self-reports revealed that autism and ADHD symptom severity was correlated with GM volume in the left inferior frontal gyrus. Autism symptom-severity was correlated with the left posterior cingulate, ADHD with the right parietal lobe, right temporal frontal cortex, bilateral thalamus, and left hippocampus/amygdala complex. Symptom severity of both disorders form a continuum extending into the general population, but it seems to be an oversimplification to typify psychiatric disorders such as autism and ADHD solely as extremes of brain structure abnormalities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The results of these three ASD meta-analyses largely converged, but there were differences with respect to whether the left, right or bilateral sections of specific brain areas were deviant. If there were differences between the meta-analyses with respect to the location in either of the hemispheres we did mention a specific hemisphere.

References

  • Baron Cohen, S. (2001). Theory of mind and autism: A review. In L. M. Glidden (Ed.), International review of research in mental retardation: Autism (Vol. 23, pp. 169–184). San Diego, CA, USA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Batty, M. J., Liddle, E. B., Pitiot, A., Toro, R., Groom, M. J., Scerif, G., et al. (2010). Cortical gray matter in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A structural magnetic resonance imaging study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 49(3), 229–238.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brieber, S., Neufang, S., Bruning, N., Kamp Becker, I., Remschmidt, H., Herpertz Dahlmann, B., et al. (2007). Structural brain abnormalities in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and patients with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48(12), 1251–1258.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bush, G., Valera, E. M., & Seidman, L. J. (2005). Functional neuroimaging of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A review and suggested future directions. Biological Psychiatry, 57(11), 1273–1284.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Castellanos, F. X., & Tannock, R. (2002). Neuroscience of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: The search for endophenotypes. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3(8), 617–628.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chabernaud, C., Mennes, M., Kelly, C., Nooner, K., Di Martino, A., Castellanos, F. X., et al. (2012). Dimensional brain–behavior relationships in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 71(5), 434–442.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cauda, F., Geda, E., Sacco, K., D’agata, F., Duca, S., Geminiani, G., et al. (2011). Grey matter abnormality in autism spectrum disorder: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis study. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 82(12), 1304–1313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Martino, A., Ross, K., Uddin, L. Q., Sklar, A. B., Castellanos, F. X., & Milham, M. P. (2009a). Functional brain correlates of social and nonsocial processes in autism spectrum disorders: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Biological Psychiatry, 65(1), 63–74.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Di Martino, A., Shehzad, A., Kelly, C., Krain Roy, A., Gee, D., Uddin, L., et al. (2009b). Relationship between cingulo-insular functional connectivity and autistic traits in neurotypical adults. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166, 891–899.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Duerden, E. G., Mak-Fan, K. M., Taylor, M. J., & Roberts, S. W. (2012). Regional differences in grey and white matter in children and adults with autism spectrum disorders: An activation likelihood estimate (ALE) meta-analysis. Autism Research, 5(1), 49–66.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Durston, S., & Casey, B. J. (2006). What have we learned about cognitive development from neuroimaging? Neuropsychologia, 44(11), 2149–2157.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellison-Wright, I., Ellison-Wright, Z., & Bullmore, E. (2008). Structural brain change in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder identified by meta-analysis. BMC Psychiatry, 8, 51.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U., Morton, J., & Leslie, A. M. (1991). The cognitive basis of a biological disorder: Autism. Trends in Neurosciences, 14(10), 433–438.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frodl, T., & Skokauskas, N. (2012). Meta-analysis of structural MRI studies in children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder indicates medication effects. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 125, 114–126.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Geurts, H. M., Broeders, M., & Nieuwland, M. S. (2009a). Thinking outside the executive functions box: Theory of mind and pragmatic abilities in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 7(1), 135–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geurts, H. M., Corbett, B., & Solomon, M. (2009b). The paradox of cognitive flexibility in autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(2), 74–82.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gitelman, D. R., Ashburner, J., Friston, K. J., Tyler, L. K., & Price, C. J. (2001). Voxel-based morphometry of herpes simplex encephalitis. Neuroimage, 13(4), 623–631.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Good, C. D., Johnsrude, I. S., Ashburner, J., Henson, R. N., Friston, K. J., & Frackowiak, R. S. (2001). A voxel-based morphometric study of ageing in 465 normal adult human brains. Neuroimage, 14(1 Pt 1), 21–36.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gottesman, I. I., & Gould, T. D. (2003). The endophenotype concept in psychiatry: Etymology and strategic intentions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160(4), 636–645.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, J. R., Chabris, C. F., & Braver, T. S. (2003). Neural mechanisms of general fluid intelligence. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6(3), 316–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F., Ronald, A., & Plomin, R. (2006). Time to give up on a single explanation for autism. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(10), 1218–1220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herrmann, M. J., Saathoff, C., Schreppel, T. J., Ehlis, A.-C., Scheuerpflug, P., Pauli, P., et al. (2009). The effect of ADHD symptoms on performance monitoring in a non-clinical population. Psychiatry Research, 169(2), 144–148.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hoekstra, R. A., Bartels, M., Cath, D. C., & Boomsma, D. I. (2008). Factor structure, reliability and criterion validity of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ): A study in Dutch population and patient groups. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(8), 1555–1566.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hyde, K., Samson, F., Evans, E., & Mottron, L. (2009). Neuroanatomical differences in brain areas implicated in perceptual and other core features of autism revealed by cortical thickness analysis and voxel based morphometry. Human Brain Mapping, 31, 556–566.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kana, R. K., Keller, T. A., Minshew, N. J., & Just, M. A. (2007). Inhibitory control in high-functioning autism: decreased activation and under connectivity in inhibition networks. Biological Psychiatry, 62(3), 198–206.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, R. C., Adler, L. A., Barkley, R., Biederman, J., Conners, C. K., Faraone, S. V., et al. (2005). Patterns and predictors of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder persistence into adulthood: Results from the national comorbidity survey replication. Biological Psychiatry, 57(11), 1442–1451.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kooij, J. S., Boonstra, A. M., Vermeulen, S. H., Heister, A. G., Burger, H., Buitelaar, J. K., et al. (2008). Response to methylphenidate in adults with ADHD is associated with a polymorphism in SLC6A3 (DAT1). American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 147B(2), 201–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marcus, D. K., & Barry, T. D. (2011). Does attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have a dimensional latent structure? A taxometric analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120(2), 427–442.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Möller, H.-J. (2009). Development of DSM-V and ICD-11: Tendencies and potential of new classifications in psychiatry at the current state of knowledge. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 63(5), 595–612.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mosconi, M. W., Kay, M., D’Cruz, A. M., Seidenfeld, A., Guter, S., Stanford, L. D., et al. (2009). Impaired inhibitory control is associated with higher-order repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorders. Psychological Medicine, 39(9), 1559–1566.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nakao, T., Radua, J., Rubia, K., & Mataix-Cols, D. (2011). Gray matter volume abnormalities in ADHD: Voxel-based meta-analysis exploring the effects of age and stimulant medication. American Journal of Psychiatry, 168(11), 1154–1163.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nickl-Jockschat, T., Habel, U., Michel, T. M., Manning, J., Laird, A. R., Fox, P. T., et al. (2012). Brain structure anomalies in autism spectrum disorder—a meta-analysis of VBM studies using anatomic likelihood estimation. Human Brain Mapping, 33(6), 1470–1489.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reid, R., DuPaul, G. J., Power, T. J., Anastopoulos, A. D., Rogers-Adkinson, D., Noll, M. B., et al. (1998). Assessing culturally different students for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder using behavior rating scales. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26(3), 187–198.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rojas, D. C., Peterson, E., Winterrowd, E., Reite, M. L., Rogers, S. J., & Tregellas, J. R. (2006). Regional gray matter volumetric changes in autism associated with social and repetitive behavior symptoms. BMC Psychiatry, 6, 56.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rommelse, N., Franke, B., Geurts, H., Hartman, C., & Buitelaar, J. (2010). Shared heritability of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 19(3), 281–295.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rommelse, N. N. J., Geurts, H. M., Franke, B., Buitelaar, J. K., & Hartman, C. A. (2011). A review on cognitive and brain endophenotypes that may be common in autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and facilitate the search for pleiotropic genes. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35(6), 1363–1396.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rouw, R., & Scholte, H. S. (2010). Neural basis of individual differences in synesthetic experiences. The Journal of Neuroscience, 30(18), 6205–6213.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitz, N., Rubia, K., Daly, E., Smith, A., Williams, S., & Murphy, D. G. (2006). Neural correlates of executive function in autistic spectrum disorders. Biological Psychiatry, 59(1), 7–16.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seidman, L. J., Biederman, J., Liang, L., Valera, E. M., Monuteaux, M. C., Brown, A., et al. (2011). Gray matter alterations in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder identified by voxel based morphometry. Biological Psychiatry, 69(9), 857–866.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Semrud-Clikeman, M., Pliszka, S. R., Bledsoe, J., & Lancaster, J. (2012). Volumetric MRI differences in treatment naive and chronically treated adolescents with ADHD-combined type. Journal of Attention Disorders. doi:10.1177/1087054712443158.

  • Smith, S. M. (2002). Fast robust automated brain extraction. Human Brain Mapping, 17(3), 143–155.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stanfield, A. C., McIntosh, A. M., Spencer, M. D., Philip, R., Gaur, S., & Lawrie, S. M. (2008). Towards a neuroanatomy of autism: A systematic review and meta-analysis of structural magnetic resonance imaging studies. European Psychiatry, 23(4), 289–299.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stark, R., Bauer, E., Merz, C. J., Zimmermann, M., Reuter, M., Plichta, M. M., et al. (2011). ADHD related behaviors are associated with brain activation in the reward system. Neuropsychologia, 49(3), 426–434.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, E., Dopfner, M., Sergeant, J., Asherson, P., Banaschewski, T., Buitelaar, J., et al. (2004). European clinical guidelines for hyperkinetic disorder—first upgrade. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 13(Suppl 1), I7–30.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Uterwijk, J. (2000). WAIS-III Nederlandstalige bewerking. Technische handleiding. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Via, E., Radua, J., Cardoner, N., Happe, F., & Mataix-Cols, D. (2011). Meta-analysis of gray matter abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder: Should Asperger disorder be subsumed under a broader umbrella of autistic spectrum disorder? Archives of General Psychiatry, 68(4), 409–418.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Viding, E., & Blakemore, S. J. (2007). Endophenotype approach to developmental psychopathology: Implications for autism research. Behavior Genetics, 37(1), 51–60.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Volkmar, F. R., Lord, C., Bailey, A., Schultz, R. T., & Klin, A. (2004). Autism and pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(1), 135–170.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • von dem Hagen, E. A. H., Nummenmaa, L., Yu, R., Engell, A. D., Ewbank, M. P., & Calder, A. J. (2011). Autism spectrum traits in the typical population predict structure and function in the posterior superior temporal sulcus. Cerebral Cortex, 21(3), 493–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler, D. (2001). WAIS-III Canadian technical manual. Toronto, ON, Canada: The Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Y., Brady, M., & Smith, S. (2001). Segmentation of brain MR images through a hidden Markov random field model and the expectation-maximization algorithm. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 20(1), 45–57.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Andries van der Leij and Romke Rouw for various fruitful discussions. We thank Sanne van den Bergh for assisting us with the manuscript preparation.

Conflict of interest

None of the authors, Hilde M. Geurts, K. Richard Ridderinkhof, and Steven H. Scholte, reported any biomedical financial interests of other potential conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Weesperplein 4, 1018 XA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Hilde M. Geurts, K. Richard Ridderinkhof & H. Steven Scholte

  2. Department of Psychology, ADHD and Autism Research Center (d’Arc), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Hilde M. Geurts

  3. Department of Psychology, Amsterdam Center for the Study of Adaptive Control in Brain and Behavior (Acacia), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    K. Richard Ridderinkhof

  4. Cognitive Science Centre Amsterdam (CSCA), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    K. Richard Ridderinkhof

Authors
  1. Hilde M. Geurts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. K. Richard Ridderinkhof
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. H. Steven Scholte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hilde M. Geurts.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Geurts, H.M., Ridderinkhof, K.R. & Scholte, H.S. The Relationship Between Grey-Matter and ASD and ADHD Traits in Typical Adults. J Autism Dev Disord 43, 1630–1641 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1708-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1708-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation