Dr Maddie Groom has been awarded a grant of just over £42,000 to conduct an 18-month study investigating the brain mechanisms behind attention and concentration in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The study has been funded by the Waterloo Foundation and is a collaboration with colleagues in the University of Nottingham schools of medicine (Chris Hollis), psychology (Lucy Cragg, Claudia Danielmeier), life sciences (Nic Blockley) and the Beacon in Precision Imaging (Jyothika Kumar) and will fund the work of Institute of Mental Health  PhD student, Iman Idrees, who is funded by a Beacon in Precision Imaging studentship. The study will also be supported by colleagues in the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, and the Nottingham Adult ADHD Support group who are helping to shape the rationale and design of the study and will help to disseminate findings afterwards.

The study will start in September 2020 and will recruit 25 adults with ADHD and 25 without. Those who take part will undergo a brain scan while they complete different tests of attention. The research will also measure activity in the ‘autonomic nervous system’. This is the system that controls things like heart rate, sweating and changes in the size of the pupils in our eyes. It is responsible for preparing our bodies for activity or calming them down when we rest. It also sends signals to the brain and influences our attention. There is some evidence that this system might function differently in ADHD and the research team think this might also lead to differences in the way that people with ADHD control their attention. There are both strengths and difficulties associated with this different attentional style and the researchers want to understand more about it. This will lead to further investigations in the future that aim to develop more effective interventions for ADHD that are tailored to an individual’s own profile of ADHD.