New research says that people suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are lacking in certain brain proteins essential for experiencing reward and motivation. Writing this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers report on a brain-imaging study that used used positron emission tomography (PET) to examine the brain's dopamine-mediated motivation/reward system. The researchers found that ADHD patients had lower levels of dopamine receptors and transporters in two brain regions, the accumbens and midbrain. We'll talk with Nora Volkow, lead author of the report and Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about what the findings might mean. Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.

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This study, from the Journal of the American Medical Association is entitled Evaluating Dopamine Reward Pathway in ADHD. It verifies some suspicions that have been held for some time about how the brain rewards focus and concentration on tasks in people diagnosed with ADHD.

Its implications for how we teach and learn are enormous.

There are also implications for how adults with ADHD may order their lives, businesses, and even spiritual disciplines.

Without motivation and reward, many of the things we do in life are not just tedious, but agonizing. To recognize differences in hard-wiring facilitates accommodation and even capitalization on the inherent strengths in people with ADHD.