Psychology
The article was published on 16th October, 2011.
Source of the case study
URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4500647/
Brief Case Description
The article describes new information and evidence that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. In the article, the author describes the updates the replacement of previous documents published in the AAP that entailed the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in children (ATTENTION-DEFICIT, 2011). Moreover, the article also describes the attitudes and practices of pediatricians’ concerning ADHD. Besides, it also addresses several areas on diagnosis and treatment of the condition. The article describes the current procedures that should be applied with regard to the legitimacy and diagnosis of ADHD ad the suitable diagnostic criteria and procedures applied in the process.
Psychological application
The Executive Dysfunction theory of ADHD describes the deficits associated with higher order cognitive processes like planning, thoughtful reasoning, working memory, or even the reticence of inappropriate and assortment of appropriate behaviors (Johnson et.al, 2009). The theory implies that ADHD symptoms is caused by a decrease in executive control, that stems from the anomalies in the arrangement, purpose, and biochemical operation of particular neural networks. Neuropsychological tests are important to the children diagnosed with ADHD because they are used to evaluate the operations of the executive function system. The theory explains the symptoms of ADHD that involves impulsivity and inattention, but at the same time, ignoring the hyperactivity element of ADHD. Researchers have used the Executive Dysfunction theory to formulate testable hypothesis that describes the functions of the frontal cortices and their circuits in the symptoms of ADHD.
Observation 2
The article was published on 21st August 2014
Source of the case study
URL: https://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/brain-study-finds-evidence-autism-involves-too-many-synapses
Brief Case Description
In this article, researchers implies that in the future, there will be a possibility of treating autism with drugs that reinstate the usual pruning of brain-cell connections. We learn that children diagnosed with autism have a surplus of synapses as the normal functioning of brain development is affected by the slowdown of the pruning process. The article explains the discovery of medication rapamycin used to restore the normal synaptic pruning, which as a result lessens the autism-like behaviors. In addition, the study is comprised of several researches that support a treatment process similar to actions induced by rapamycin. Nonetheless, researchers uses the mouse model of autism to trace the pruning defect caused by the Mtor protein.
Psychological application
The social motivation theory is an emerging trend that helps to describe autism to unimagined extent. It has been established that the social world shapes out attention in daily encounters. For example, social signals are highly ranked by attention, interactions are inherently rewarding, and the social maintaining infiltrates personal behaviors (Chevallier et.al, 2012). Biological mechanisms supports social motivation and this is regarded as an evolutionary adaptation that are incorporated in the human surroundings. In Autism, the attention weight apportioned to social information is lessened. An individual diagnosed with the condition suffer from diminished social orienting, social maintaining, and reward. The social motivation theory has helped researchers to develop powerful model that examine a diminished social motivation that offers a direction towards understanding individuals’ inherent drive that explains acceptance or rejection.
References
ATTENTION-DEFICIT, S. O. (2011). ADHD: clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents. Pediatrics, peds-2011.
AutismSpeaks. (2014, August 21). Brain Study Finds Evidence that Autism Involves Too Many Synapses | Science News | Autism Speaks. Retrieved from https://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/brain-study-finds-evidence-autism-involves-too-many-synapses
Chevallier, C., Kohls, G., Troiani, V., Brodkin, E. S., & Schultz, R. T. (2012). The social motivation theory of autism. Trends in cognitive sciences, 16(4), 231-239.
Johnson, K. A., Wiersema, J. R., & Kuntsi, J. (2009). What would Karl Popper say? Are current psychological theories of ADHD falsifiable?. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 5(1), 1.
