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New Evidence of the Biological Basis of ADHD :: ADHD Spotlight

ADHD Spotlight New Evidence of the Biological Basis of ADHD

New Evidence of the Biological Basis of ADHD

Researchers have shown that, compared with normal children, youngsters with ADHD have less brain matter in the areas involved in attention and in executive functioning. These are the brain areas for planning, organizing, and implementing actions in every day life. New studies show that the same features are true of adults who have ADHD.*

Hold onto your seatbelt for this paragraph. It’s going to be a bumpy ride through neuroanatomy. A key area of the brain that is involved is the prefrontal cortex (PFC). That’s the brain part, right behind your forehead, which is responsible for logical thinking. Of course you’d expect it to be affected in ADHD, and it is. One key sub-area area in the PFC which is smaller in ADHD is the orbitalfrontal cortex (OFC, the part around the eyes). This seems linked with impulsivity and with poor control of your behavior in social situations. Another key sub-area affected is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, the back-and-side part of the PFC). Lesions here result in less ability to organize, plan, remember, and pay attention. A third key sub-area is the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC, the bottom-and-side part of the PFC). Problems in the VLPFC relate to poor ability to control your behavior suitably.

Another area of the cortex is linked closely to the DLPFC. This is the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC); it plays an important role in complex cognitive processing, otherwise known as complicated thinking.

You don’t need to remember these $10 neurological terms. What counts is that we are finding decreased brain matter in exactly the anatomic sites that we would predict, based on their function. More important, we are now finding these changes in adults with ADHD as well as in children with the disorder.

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