• Amanda J Connolly, Nicole J Rinehart, and Joanne Fielding.
• School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: Amanda.Connolly@monash.edu.
• Neuroscience. 2016 Oct 1; 333: 27-34.

AbstractGrowing evidence suggests Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often co-occurs with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and a better understanding of the nature of their overlap, including at a neurobiological level, is needed. Research has implicated cerebellar-networks as part of the neural-circuitry disrupted in ASD, but little research has been carried out to investigate this in ADHD. We investigated cerebellar integrity using a double-step saccade adaptation paradigm in a group of male children age 8-15 (n=12) diagnosed with ADHD-Combined Type (-CT). Their performance was compared to a group of age and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) controls (n=12). Parent reported symptoms of ADHD-CT and ASD were measured, along with motor proficiency (Movement ABC-2). We found, on average, the adaptation of saccade gain was reduced for the ADHD-CT group compared to the TD group. Greater saccadic gain change (adaptation) was also positively correlated with higher Movement ABC-2 total and balance scores among the ADHD-CT participants. These differences suggest cerebellar networks underlying saccade adaptation may be disrupted in young people with ADHD-CT. Though our findings require further replication with larger samples, they suggest further research into cerebellar dysfunction in ADHD-CT, and as a point of neurobiological overlap with ASD, may be warranted.Copyright © 2016 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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