New evidence suggests that ADHD may be based on delay, not deviance
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According to award-winning science writer Ed Yong at ScienceBlogs, one of the most fundamental aspects of ADHD, which has been built more on assumptions than on empirical data may soon be obsolete.
New research by the National Institute of Mental Health suggests that ADHD may not be the result of the brain maturing differently than normal, but slower. Apparently, while some parts of the brain develop at a typical rate, others lag behind by several years. Notably, the biggest delays take place in the lateral prefrontal cortex. Development of this region takes place up to five years beyond that in an average person.
Besides the unaffected lobes, the exception to this unusually slow development is that the primary motor cortex was shown to mature faster than normal. This lobe of the brain aids in the planning and controlling of body movement, and, interestingly, also works alongside the slower-than-normal prefrontal cortex. It's not known why this section matures at a quicker than normal rate, but it may have something to do with a binary glitch in brain function at a genetic level: a mutation. Mutations are what enable evolution and the Darwinian theory of natural selection, but not all genes are dominant and eventually fail to become passed to future offspring.
Most scientists agree that genetics and environment are main factors in ADHD. Genetics, for example, was suggested to be contributory in at least 70% of cases by at least two studies. A series of mutations in a group of genes that produce proteins called neurotrophins, which control the growth, division, and survival of brain neurons have previously been linked to the disorder. Neurons are what build up the huge interconnected network of information in your brain. They dictate your entire thought process and range of emotions through electric signals and chemical reactions.
Here's a timeline of brain development of an ADHD brain compared with a normal one.
One of the coolest things about this study is that it could help us understand why anywhere from 50%-57% of ADHD kids eventually grow out of their symptoms. It may also demonstrate why children show such a wide range of symptoms which are still unique for every individual. It may even link ADHD people to above average intelligence (although IQ, the scientific measurement of intelligence, isn't a direct indicator of how smart someone is). Children with high IQ have cortices that develop slower than normal, but they thicken unusually fast during childhood. At the current rate of technological advancement, the inner mechanics of the human brain will probably be completely deciphered in a matter of years anyway.
This and other studies have introduced a huge amount of new information to explain why the ADHD brain matures differently -- whoops, more slowly, than the average person's. Plus, it made us all look like idiots for being on the wrong track this whole time. SCIENCE! More as research progresses.
New research by the National Institute of Mental Health suggests that ADHD may not be the result of the brain maturing differently than normal, but slower. Apparently, while some parts of the brain develop at a typical rate, others lag behind by several years. Notably, the biggest delays take place in the lateral prefrontal cortex. Development of this region takes place up to five years beyond that in an average person.
Besides the unaffected lobes, the exception to this unusually slow development is that the primary motor cortex was shown to mature faster than normal. This lobe of the brain aids in the planning and controlling of body movement, and, interestingly, also works alongside the slower-than-normal prefrontal cortex. It's not known why this section matures at a quicker than normal rate, but it may have something to do with a binary glitch in brain function at a genetic level: a mutation. Mutations are what enable evolution and the Darwinian theory of natural selection, but not all genes are dominant and eventually fail to become passed to future offspring.
Most scientists agree that genetics and environment are main factors in ADHD. Genetics, for example, was suggested to be contributory in at least 70% of cases by at least two studies. A series of mutations in a group of genes that produce proteins called neurotrophins, which control the growth, division, and survival of brain neurons have previously been linked to the disorder. Neurons are what build up the huge interconnected network of information in your brain. They dictate your entire thought process and range of emotions through electric signals and chemical reactions.
Here's a timeline of brain development of an ADHD brain compared with a normal one.
One of the coolest things about this study is that it could help us understand why anywhere from 50%-57% of ADHD kids eventually grow out of their symptoms. It may also demonstrate why children show such a wide range of symptoms which are still unique for every individual. It may even link ADHD people to above average intelligence (although IQ, the scientific measurement of intelligence, isn't a direct indicator of how smart someone is). Children with high IQ have cortices that develop slower than normal, but they thicken unusually fast during childhood. At the current rate of technological advancement, the inner mechanics of the human brain will probably be completely deciphered in a matter of years anyway.
This and other studies have introduced a huge amount of new information to explain why the ADHD brain matures differently -- whoops, more slowly, than the average person's. Plus, it made us all look like idiots for being on the wrong track this whole time. SCIENCE! More as research progresses.
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