The NAcc was also found to be atypically connected to the left anterior PFC (aPFC), which appears to be associated with task-control functions and important for the implementation of plans and strategies for complex tasks, as well as decision making (Dosenbach et al., 2007; Dosenbach et al., 2008). We also found that in the ADHD group, the NAcc was atypically connected to other regions involved with control processes, such as middle frontal gyrus and precentral sulcus (Dosenbach et al., 2007). This may indicate involvement of NAcc with cognitive and attention processes and is consistent with studies that found correlation between NAcc alterations and inattentive symptoms (Depue et al., 2010; Volkow et al., 2009). Furthermore, the altered connectivity between NAcc and regions involved in control processes is indicative of the importance of interplay between control and reward circuits in ADHD, and suggests that an unbalanced interaction between reward circuit and cognitive control circuits might be related to ADHD etiology, consistent with the model proposed by Nigg and Casey (2005).
