Scheduling's biological importance to ADDers

A very unlikely source prompted this learning - an article called "Have Scientists Found a Way to Read Your Mind?" over at howstuffworks.com. These German scientists figured this out through fMRI brain scans (functional Magnetic Resonanace Imaging) - the same types of brain scans Dr. Amen (Healing ADD and Change Your Brain, Change Your Life) uses in his research!

The researchers at the Max Planck Institute made these discoveries (emphasis added by me):

• Freely chosen intentions are stored in the prefrontal cortex.
• Intentions based on external orders are stored in a different part of the brain than those based on internal choice. Intentions based on "following orders" live on the surface of the brain, not deep in the gray matter.
• When intentions are acted upon, the neural activity moves to a slightly different part of the brain, meaning the brain essentially "copies" the intention and transfers it in order to convert it into action.

What this means for ADDers

How does this relate to ADD/HD? According to Dr. Amen's research, the prefrontal cortex is the main area of focus (unintended but convenient pun) - it governs the ability to concentrate on tasks, ignore irrelevant information (i.e.distractions), and now, with this new research, we can add taking initiative to the list.

In ADD/HD brains, Dr. Amen found that during prolonged concentration, the PFC actually shuts down! It simply malfunctions. This explains why I always felt so physically exhausted after getting stuck on physics problems for more than 15 minutes. Also, in his research, he found that the stimulants DO help restore normal activity to this part of the brain. On a side note, I've actually noticed that I'm typically more cheerful and energetic while I'm on my meds. My guess is because action isn't stuck in the PFC, draining my energy.

This is only one piece of the puzzle, though. What I thought was fascinating was that actions based on external orders were stored in a different part of the brain. This, combined with the third point, explain why it is ALSO much easier (more efficient?) for ADDers to follow orders than to execute a plan entirely on their own. It explains why ADDers will pair up with organized - or worse, bossy or controlling - significant others; it takes less energy to live. What are you supposed to do when you don't want to rely on someone else to plan your day? Make a fairly strict schedule.

According to this research, creating a schedule (complete with alarms if you have a PDA like a Palm) should serve the exact same purpose as listening to someone else tell you what to do - it should bypass the PFC entirely. Instead of having to decide on the spot what to do - and risking your decisions never making it out of the PFC - you can 'take orders' from your yesterday's self through the plan, and never have to worry about your decisions getting stuck in the PFC (causing the idling).