Brain Impulse Control Discovery Could Result in ADHD and Addiction Treatments

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Brain Impulse Control Discovery Could Result in ADHD and Addiction Treatments

A new neurological study at Queen’s University has found that impulsive behavior

can be improved with training, and that this improvement is marked by specific

brain changes.

This new discovery was made by a research team led by neuroscience PhD student

Hayton. Their work has led to the ability to pinpoint the area of the

brain that controls impulsive behavior and the mechanisms that affect how this

behavior is learned.

“In the classroom, kids often blurt out answers before they raise their hand,”

says Hayton. “With time, they learn to hold their tongue and put up their hand

until the teacher calls them. We wanted to know how this type of learning occurs

in the brain.” The team’s research located where the memory for this type of

inhibition is in the brain, and how it is encoded.

Hayton’s team trained rats to control their impulsive responses until presented

with a signal. The research showed that electrical signals between cells in the

brain’s frontal lobe grew stronger as the rats learned to control their

impulsivity. This showed that impulsivity is represented by a change in

communication between neurons in a specific region of the brain.

Professor Cella Olmstead, the principal investigator on the study, notes that

children who experience difficulty learning to control a response often have

behavioral problems. These problems often extend into their adulthood.

Neuroscience professor Dumont, a co-investigator on the research team, adds

that in conditions where learning does not occur properly, it is possible that

the mechanism that controls impulsivity has been impaired.

Impulsivity is a main feature of many disorders, including Attention-Deficit

Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder, and

gambling.

The findings of this research, recently published in The Journal of

Neuroscience, will benefit the diagnosis and treatment processes for these

conditions.