Dec. 22, 2004 New Haven, Conn. -- The drug methylphenidate
(brand name Ritalin) increased activity in brains of children
with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as
those with a reading disorder, researchers at Yale report in the
American Journal of Psychiatry. "During a test of divided
attention, Ritalin increased activation in the basal ganglia, a
structure of the brain involved in cognition and behavior," said
first author Keith Shafritz, former graduate student in the
interdepartmental Neuroscience Program at Yale and now a
research associate at Duke University Medical Center. "We saw
this activation in children with ADHD and those with reading
disorder." The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI) to analyze the effect of the drug on brain function.
Researchers found that adolescents with ADHD or reading disorder
who were on placebo (not medicated) had less activation of the
basal ganglia than a group of healthy participants. When the
same participants received Ritalin