A study recently published in the journal Biological Psychiatry has found that the reward system in the brains of children with ADHD may not be as well developed as it is in children who do not have the disorder.

A Feb. 11 HealthDay News article provided the following details about the study:

Spanish researchers used MRI to scan the brains of 42 children with ADHD and 42 other children with no signs of ADHD and found that the ventral striatum was smaller, particularly on the right side, in those with ADHD.

The ventral striatum includes the nucleus accumbens, which maintains levels of motivation when a person starts a task and continues to maintain motivation until the task is completed.

The reduced size of the ventral striatum in children with ADHD was associated with symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsiveness, the researchers said.

Labels: brain_activity

Posted By: Aspen/CRC