How does the brain of an individual with ADHD differ from a “normal” brain?
The ADHD brain differs from a normal brain in a variety of ways. Geographically, for instance, there are areas in the caudate, corpus callosum, cerebellum that across a number of studies show a difference or abnormality in size or shape as compared to a normal brain. These happen to be areas that are crucial in what we know as the attention system-differences in anatomy in this area may speak to differences in function and ability. There are also differences in physiological functioning that have been demonstrated. For instance during a repetitive boring task, a person with ADHD will use less glucose in oxygen in the prefrontal cortex area-therefore during times of low stimulation, an ADHD person will respond without much forethought, and often make errors in judgment and get distracted from their final goal. Recent studies also show that individuals with ADHD have more of a key enzyme than they should, reiterating evidence from a variety of domains that there are differences between a
