Our colleagues from the Genciencia blog have recently told us about an interesting discovery made by scientists from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the Vall d'Hebron Hospital: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is not a problem of will.
A nuclear magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 42 children between 6 and 18 years with ADHD, and another 42 with the same age and sex and without any cognitive or behavioral abnormality. They discovered that a part of the brain, the ventral striatum, was reduced in those with ADHD.
It is in this brain region, and more specifically in the nucleus accumbens, where the mechanisms of pleasure and reward are activated.
This causes that the reward for an action cannot be perceived if it does not occur immediately, and that causes the ability to concentrate to achieve a goal does not depend on the will, but on a brain mechanism. The amount of dopamine needed to enjoy an achievement in advance is not enough if it is not going to be produced immediately.
The consequences of this work may have educational applications, if it is possible to adapt the way of evaluating and achieving objectives to the way in which the brain of these children reacts.
You are right attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is not a matter of will, vagueria or bad education, but at a peculiarity of 5 or 10 percent of people, pretending to act like others seems to be not the best of the roads, and it does not seem appropriate to medicate except in extreme cases.
