A new study out of UC Davis has provided physical evidence for a “faulty brain connection” in children with ADHD.
This is huge news. If the results of this study hold up to scientific scrutiny, this will mark the first time that direct evidence has been found for a neurological difference in those with ADHD. Until now, ADHD has only been defined, and therefore diagnosed, by behavior. This is necessarily a subjective approach, and has led to wide-spread myths about attention deficit disorder being a hoax, or “only” a cultural phenomenon, or just an excuse for bad behavior.
The study compared the levels of alpha-waves in kids with ADHD and controls when both were given a task that required either visual or auditory attention. It was shown that the control group’s alpha waves dropped when they performed the task, which is consistent with current models of attention. The ADHD group’s alpha waves remained the same.
It is believed that when a normal brain pays attention to a task, the frontal cortex alerts other parts of the brain (in this case the visual or the auditory areas) to prepare to receive information, and this is reflected by the drop in alpha waves. In the ADHD brains in this study, there is no drop in alpha waves, indicating that this process is disrupted.
This study was done on children, so it’s not clear what it means for adult attention deficit disorder. It’s also very, very new research, so it will be some time before we can expect this test to lead to anything of practical diagnostic use. But it is nonetheless enormous news with far-reaching implications for ADHD research and treatment.
The study appears in the current issue of Biological Psychology. An article about the study can be found at PsychCentral.com.
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