ATTENTION-DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER - ADVANCES IN COGNITIVE, NEUROBIOLOGICAL, AND GENETIC RESEARCH

Conceptual and technological advances in cognitive neuroscience and mo lecular genetics have the potential to identify the pathogenesis of ps ychiatric disorders. This article reviews the application of these tec hnologies to the scientific study of attention deficit hyperactivity d isorder. It begins with a summary of shifts in conceptualization and s cientific study of this common condition. This is followed by a critic al review of findings from recent cognitive, neuroimaging, and genetic studies. The available data do not yet permit an integration across t hese different levels of enquiry, but implicate problems in response i nhibition, dysfunction of frontostriatal networks, and genetic factors in the pathogenesis of this complex behavioral phenotype. The review closes with suggestions for future interdisciplinary research.