Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
7457806 
Journal Article 
An integrative theory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder based on the cognitive and affective neurosciences 
Nigg, JT; Casey, BJ 
2005 
Yes 
Development and Psychopathology
ISSN: 0954-5794 
17 
3 
785-806 
English 
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a behavioral syndrome that arises in early childhood, often co-occurs with conduct disorder and leads, developmentally, to antisocial behavior and substance abuse. Models from cognitive and affective neuroscience have been invoked in an effort to understand the development of ADHD, leading to a broad array of interrelated theories and hypothesized mechanisms. In this paper, we highlight core mechanisms that may cut across several theories and constructs, and thus provide some leverage for further study and conceptualization from a neuroscience perspective. We emphasize the joint operations of frontostriatal and frontocerebellar neural loops in detecting and predicting what and when important events in the environment will occur and their interaction with frontoamygdala loops in assigning emotional significance to these events. We note that weaknesses in the development of these basic operations could lead to decrement in the development of cognitive and affective control and other mental operations mediated by prefrontal cortex during development. In turn, such decrement could lead to many of the phenotypic cognitive and neuropsychological features seen in children with ADHD. Copyright © 2005 Cambridge University Press. 
amygdaloid nucleus; antisocial behavior; article; attention deficit disorder; behavioral science; brain development; brain function; cerebellum; child behavior; clinical feature; cognitive defect; cognitive development; comorbidity; conduct disorder; corpus striatum; correlation analysis; disease predisposition; environmental factor; frontal lobe; human; mental disease; mental health; mental health care; mood disorder; nerve cell differentiation; nerve cell network; neuroanatomy; neuropsychology; neuroscience; phenotypic variation; prediction; prefrontal cortex; priority journal; substance abuse; Affect; Amygdala; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; Brain; Cognition Disorders; Frontal Lobe; Humans; Nerve Net; Neurosciences; Phenotype; Psychological Theory