Poor concentration

2021 ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Mark Selikowitz

Children with ADHD often have difficulty giving close attention to details. However, it is wrong to believe that children with ADHD cannot concentrate at all. Their mechanisms for concentrating are inefficient and unreliable, not absent. Difficulties with concentration result in children with ADHD often being confused and unable to understand instructions, and attentional difficulties may give children with ADHD an unfocused appearance. Often, children with ADHD have difficulty in adjusting their level of attention to suit the situation. This chapter discusses poor concentration in children with ADHD. It includes the attentional processes (internal and external) in the brain, and difficult tasks for attentional mechanisms.

2021 ◽  
pp. 39-46
Author(s):  
Mark Selikowitz

Specific deficits in information processing in the brain are the commonest causes of academic difficulties in children with ADHD. For many children with ADHD, academic difficulty is not confined to a particular subject but occurs across several areas of study. This chapter explores learning difficulties in ADHD, including common areas of difficulty, including written expression, oral expression, and others. The chapter also discusses when problems become apparent, the causes of learning difficulty in ADHD (poor concentration, impulsivity, working memory impairment, defiance, low self-esteem, social difficulties, poor incentival motivation, auditory processing impairment, difficulties in spelling, handwriting, and organizing), as well as dyslexia and ADHD, and the gifted child with ADHD.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zakaria Djebbara ◽  
Lars Brorson Fich ◽  
Klaus Gramann

AbstractAction is a medium of collecting sensory information about the environment, which in turn is shaped by architectural affordances. Affordances characterize the fit between the physical structure of the body and capacities for movement and interaction with the environment, thus relying on sensorimotor processes associated with exploring the surroundings. Central to sensorimotor brain dynamics, the attentional mechanisms directing the gating function of sensory signals share neuronal resources with motor-related processes necessary to inferring the external causes of sensory signals. Such a predictive coding approach suggests that sensorimotor dynamics are sensitive to architectural affordances that support or suppress specific kinds of actions for an individual. However, how architectural affordances relate to the attentional mechanisms underlying the gating function for sensory signals remains unknown. Here we demonstrate that event-related desynchronization of alpha-band oscillations in parieto-occipital and medio-temporal regions covary with the architectural affordances. Source-level time–frequency analysis of data recorded in a motor-priming Mobile Brain/Body Imaging experiment revealed strong event-related desynchronization of the alpha band to originate from the posterior cingulate complex, the parahippocampal region as well as the occipital cortex. Our results firstly contribute to the understanding of how the brain resolves architectural affordances relevant to behaviour. Second, our results indicate that the alpha-band originating from the occipital cortex and parahippocampal region covaries with the architectural affordances before participants interact with the environment, whereas during the interaction, the posterior cingulate cortex and motor areas dynamically reflect the affordable behaviour. We conclude that the sensorimotor dynamics reflect behaviour-relevant features in the designed environment.


2020 ◽  
pp. 108705472096456
Author(s):  
Yue Yang ◽  
Gang Peng ◽  
Hongwu Zeng ◽  
Diangang Fang ◽  
Linlin Zhang ◽  
...  

Objective: The present study aimed to examine the effects of SNAP25 on the integration ability of intrinsic brain functions in children with ADHD, and whether the integration ability was associated with working memory (WM). Methods: A sliding time window method was used to calculate the spatial and temporal concordance among five rs-fMRI regional indices in 55 children with ADHD and 20 healthy controls. Results: The SNAP25 exhibited significant interaction effects with ADHD diagnosis on the voxel-wise concordance in the right posterior central gyrus, fusiform gyrus and lingual gyrus. Specifically, for children with ADHD, G-carriers showed increased voxel-wise concordance in comparison to TT homozygotes in the right precentral gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus. The voxel-wise concordance was also found to be related to WM. Conclusion: Our findings provided a new insight into the neural mechanisms of the brain function of ADHD children.


2021 ◽  
pp. 66-76
Author(s):  
Mark Selikowitz

To acquire age-appropriate social skills, certain parts of the brain need to develop normally. Children with ADHD may experience social difficulties and experience what is called a social cognition deficit. This chapter outlines social clumsiness in ADHD. It discusses social cognition as a function of the brain, specific social competence deficits (social blindness, egocentricity, lack of appropriate inhibition, insatiability, insensitivity to style and convention, lack of responsiveness, over-talkativeness, difficulties reading facial expression, aggressive tendencies, lack of judgment, poor understanding of group dynamics, misinterpretation of feedback, poor social prediction, poor social memory, lack of awareness of image, poor behaviour-modification strategies), management of social clumsiness, and autism spectrum disorder.


CNS Spectrums ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (S6) ◽  
pp. 8-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Spencer

AbstractAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a lifelong condition that begins in childhood and continues with adult manifestations related to the core symptoms. Approximately 50% to 75% of children with ADHD continue to meet criteria for the disorder as adolescents and adults. Adults with the disorder increasingly present to primary care physicians, psychiatrists, and other practitioners for diagnosis and treatment. Understanding the diagnosis of ADHD in adults requires knowledge of age-dependent decline of symptoms over time. Retrospective recall of symptoms and impairment are valid methods of diagnosing the disorder. ADHD is also a brain disorder with a strong neurobiologic basis, complex etiology, and genetic component. Genetic and environmental vulnerabilities give rise to abnormalities in the brain and subsequent behavioral and cognitive deficits, which may produce the symptoms associated with ADHD. Magnetic resonance imaging studies of ADHD have provided evidence that abnormalities in the brain are caused by the disorder itself rather than treatment of the disorder. Psychiatric comorbidity is common among patients with ADHD and tends to complicate treatment. Acute and long-term use of long-acting stimulant formulations (methylphenidate and amphetamine compounds) have shown robust efficacy and tolerability consistent with the treatment response established in children with ADHD. Non-stimulant medications have demonstrated efficacy as well, and may be preferred in patients with tic and substance use disorders.In this expert roundtable supplement, Timothy E. Wilens, MD, reviews the epidemiology and clinical presentation of adult ADHD. Next, Joseph Biederman, MD, provides an overview of recent advances in the neurobiology of ADHD. Thomas J. Spencer, MD, reviews stimulant treatment of adult ADHD, and Lenard A. Adler concludes with a discussion of non-stimulant trials in adult ADHD.


CNS Spectrums ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (S6) ◽  
pp. 14-14 ◽  

AbstractAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a lifelong condition that begins in childhood and continues with adult manifestations related to the core symptoms. Approximately 50% to 75% of children with ADHD continue to meet criteria for the disorder as adolescents and adults. Adults with the disorder increasingly present to primary care physicians, psychiatrists, and other practitioners for diagnosis and treatment. Understanding the diagnosis of ADHD in adults requires knowledge of age-dependent decline of symptoms over time. Retrospective recall of symptoms and impairment are valid methods of diagnosing the disorder. ADHD is also a brain disorder with a strong neurobiologic basis, complex etiology, and genetic component. Genetic and environmental vulnerabilities give rise to abnormalities in the brain and subsequent behavioral and cognitive deficits, which may produce the symptoms associated with ADHD. Magnetic resonance imaging studies of ADHD have provided evidence that abnormalities in the brain are caused by the disorder itself rather than treatment of the disorder. Psychiatric comorbidity is common among patients with ADHD and tends to complicate treatment. Acute and long-term use of long-acting stimulant formulations (methylphenidate and amphetamine compounds) have shown robust efficacy and tolerability consistent with the treatment response established in children with ADHD. Non-stimulant medications have demonstrated efficacy as well, and may be preferred in patients with tic and substance use disorders.In this expert roundtable supplement, Timothy E. Wilens, MD, reviews the epidemiology and clinical presentation of adult ADHD. Next, Joseph Biederman, MD, provides an overview of recent advances in the neurobiology of ADHD. Thomas J. Spencer, MD, reviews stimulant treatment of adult ADHD, and Lenard A. Adler concludes with a discussion of non-stimulant trials in adult ADHD.


Author(s):  
Alina Yuryevna Maslova ◽  
Kheda Lechaevna Bazaeva ◽  
Zaira Arazovna Abdullaeva ◽  
Shuainat Omarovna Khazamova ◽  
Karina Akhmedovna Zeusheva ◽  
...  

At present, research in the field of the brain does not cease to surprise us with new facts and discoveries that no one could have suspected about 30 years ago. But it was at the time when it became clear that the cerebral neurons are not the only cells that can respond to changes in the external environment. A real scientific boom began to study a heterogeneous group called glia. And scientists are paying close attention to the largest of them – astrocytes. Understanding the importance of astrocytes in the mechanisms of repair and damage to brain cells in various forms of CNS pathology determines the possibility of targeted search for drugs that affect the rate of development of reactive astrogliosis in response to various brain injuries. At the same time, pharmacological modulation of activated astrocytes and other components of glia can be an integral part of the therapy of neurological diseases.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelie Reynaud ◽  
Mathilda Froesel ◽  
Carole Guedj ◽  
Sameh Ben Hadj Hassen ◽  
Justine Clery ◽  
...  

The role of norepinephrine (NE) in visuo-spatial attention remains poorly understood. Our goal was to identify the attentional processes under the influence of NE and to characterize these influences. We tested the effects of atomoxetine injections (ATX), a NE-reuptake inhibitor that boosts the level of NE in the brain, on seven monkeys performing a saccadic cued task in which cues and distractors were used to manipulate spatial attention. We found that when the cue accurately predicted the location of the upcoming cue in 80% of the trials, ATX consistently improved attentional orienting, as measured from reaction times (RTs). These effects were best accounted for by a faster accumulation rate in the valid trials, rather than by a change in the decision threshold. By contrast, the effect of ATX on alerting and distractor interference was more mitigated. Finally, we also found that, under ATX, RTs to non-cued targets were longer when these were presented separately from cued targets. This suggests that the impact of NE on visuo-spatial attention depends on the context, such that the adaptive changes elicited by the highly informative value of the cues in the most frequent trials were accompanied by a cost in the less frequent trials.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147-155
Author(s):  
Mark Selikowitz

All the medicines used to treat ADHD aim to normalize the amount of neurotransmitter in the frontal lobes of the brain. Each child with ADHD needs medication that is selected with care and based on several considerations. Medicine can potentially reduce many difficulties experienced by children with ADHD, although some may not need medication. This chapter discusses medicines in the treatment of ADHD, including how they work, how to find the right medicine for a particular child and aspects of ADHD that are helped by medicines (learning, behaviour, social skills, emotional state). It also covers the place of medicine in the treatment of ADHD, treatment of ADHD without medication, and how to explain the role of medications to a child.


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