Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

Table of Contents - 1998 - Volume 39, Issue 01  


Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Advances in Cognitive, Neurobiological, and Genetic Research

Rosemary Tannock a1c1
a1 Research Institute of The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada

Abstract

Conceptual and technological advances in cognitive neuroscience and molecular genetics have the potential to identify the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders. This article reviews the application of these technologies to the scientific study of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It begins with a summary of shifts in conceptualization and scientific study of this common condition. This is followed by a critical review of findings from recent cognitive, neuroimaging, and genetic studies. The available data do not yet permit an integration across these different levels of enquiry, but implicate problems in response inhibition, dysfunction of frontostriatal networks, and genetic factors in the pathogenesis of this complex behavioral phenotype. The review closes with suggestions for future interdisciplinary research.

(Accepted September 5 1997)


Key Words: Attention deficit disorder; hyperactivity; impulsivity; comorbidity; genetics; neuroimaging.

Correspondence:
c1 Requests for reprints to: Rosemary Tannock, PhD, Department of Psychiatry–Research Unit, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada (E-mail: tannock@sickkids.on.ca).