The ADD Gene
- Prof. Adele Diamond
www.SADD.nl
- Foundation for the predominantly inattentive type
- Attention Deficit Disorder
ADD
Research by Adele Diamond
Diamond,
A. (2005). ADD (ADHD without hyperactivity), a neurobiologically
and behaviorally distinct disorder from ADHD (with hyperactivity).
Development and Psychopathology, 17, 807-825.
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Abstract
Lab
Website
Department
of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
Canada. adele.diamond@ubc.ca
Most
studies of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) have focused on the combined type and emphasized
a core problem in response inhibition. It is proposed
here that the core problem in the truly inattentive
type of ADHD (not simply the subthreshold combined type)
is in working memory. It is further proposed that laboratory
measures, such as complex-span and dual-task dichotic
listening tasks, can detect this. Children with the
truly inattentive type of ADHD, rather than being distractible,
may instead be easily bored, their problem being more
in motivation (underarousal) than in inhibitory control.
Much converging evidence points to a primary disturbance
in the striatum (a frontal-striatal loop) in the combined
type of ADHD. It is proposed here that the primary disturbance
in truly inattentive-type ADHD (ADD) is in the cortex
(a frontal-parietal loop). Finally, it is posited that
these are not two different types of ADHD, but two different
disorders with different cognitive and behavioral profiles,
different patterns of comorbidities, different responses
to medication, and different underlying neurobiologies.
About
Adele Diamond
Fellow
of the Royal Society of Canada
Canada Research Chair Tier 1
Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Dept. of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia
(UBC), &
Div. of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, BC Children’s
Hospital, Vancouver Canada
