The Neural Correlates of Mental Flexibility in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Mental flexibility is an important executive function, facilitating flexibility in thought and action. Neurodevelopmental disorders represent a heterogeneous group of disorders, characterized by impaired brain development and function. Despite shared impairments in mental flexibility, it is not known whether the various neurodevelopmental disorders share the same aberrant neural correlates. To investigate, children [total n=110, ages 8-15 years; 22 typically developing, 38 autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 28 attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), 22 obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)] completed a mental flexibility task in a magnetoencephalograph (MEG). Results revealed that typically developing children generally relied on the expected fronto-parietal network. However, all clinical groups showed an atypical reliance on the parietal regions, while patterns of delayed and atypical frontal activity differentiated the three clinical groups. This is the first neuroimaging study to elucidate the similarities and differences in the spatio-temporal profiles of neural regions involved in mental flexibility in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.M.Sc