Neural Hyperactivity: Genius and Deviant Psychology

I don’t feel like synthesizing all this reading into a coherent post at the moment, but I’m tired of looking at it in my drafts folder. I’ll get around to refining these ideas and making my intuitions about this research more explicit, but I’ll publish it in the mean time in the event that anyone feels up to drawing some connections between all this research. Ultimately, I’m interested in the areas of the brain that produce genius. Specifically, I want to explore the overlapping’s of ADHD, depression, and other ‘mental disorders’ with creativity, problem solving, novelty seeking, and, to a greater or lesser extent, intelligence. 

Once again, I apologize if it’s utterly incoherent at the moment, but there is a rhyme to all the erraticism. 

An over active brain has been linked to depression. Rather than decreased activity, researchers have found.

Hyperactivity and Depression

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120227162656.htm

Adhd and Depression: 2.7 times

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/05/19/adhd-and-depression-common-bedfellows/

ADHD and size and grey matter: Reductions in size of prefrontal regions, the executive function relates to abilities to differentiate among conflicting thoughts, determine good and bad, better and best, same and different, future consequences of current activities, working toward a defined goal, prediction of outcomes, expectation based on actions, and social “control” (the ability to suppress urges that, if not suppressed, could lead to socially unacceptable outcomes)

Substantial increases were noted in the volume of gray matter in large areas of the posterior temporal and inferior parietal cortices of children with ADHD, compared with children in the control group. These regions have previously been identified as areas of the brain controlling attention and impulse control.
Grey matter (grey matter includes regions of the brain involved in muscle control, sensory perception such as seeing and hearing, memory, emotions, and speech

Posterior temporal responsible for semantic formation and verbal ability

Inferior parietal cortices: involved in the perception of emotions in facial stimuli,and interpretation of sensory information. The Inferior parietal lobule is concerned with language, mathematical operations, and body image, particularly the supramarginal gyrus and the angular gyrus. The parietal lobe integrates sensory information from different modalities, particularly determining spatial sense and navigation.
http://www.loni.ucla.edu/~esowell/edevel/Psychiatric_News–Rosack_39_1.htm

Children with ADHD had the slowest rate of cortical thinning.
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=102584

It receives inputs from the thalamus and the neocortex, and projects to the entorhinal cortex via the cingulum. It is an integral part of the limbic system, which is involved with emotion formation and processing, learning, and memory, and is also important for executive function and respiratory control.
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=176261

Novelty Seeking

http://mindblog.dericbownds.net/2012/03/neophily-exuberance-for-novelty.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mindblog+%28MindBlog%29

ADHD and Novelty Seeking

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?Volume=162&page=906&journalID=13

Problem solving & Daydreaming: Adhd and creativity?

http://www.gizmag.com/if-you-want-to-solve-a-problem-forget-about-it/11699/

Intelligence

http://www.futurity.org/science-technology/brain-map-reveals-biology-of-intelligence/

http://www.science20.com/news_account/parieto_frontal_integration_theory_p_fit_a_neural_basis_of_intelligence

Semantics: Linked to bilateral anterior Temporal Lobe  (also areas associated with ADHD)

http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/history/electronicarchive/progressreports/19982002/memoryknowledgedms.html

Pre-frontal cortex responsible for controlling impulses, distractions and making decisions

http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/10/16_neurolaw.shtml

Pruning brain with age/ adolescent

http://www.edinformatics.com/news/teenage_brains.htm

Explore nature and function of CamKII: its role in the formation of microtubules as a mechanism for the formation of Long term potentiation (LTP) necessary for learning and long term memory
http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002421
http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/memory.htm
http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v13/n3/full/nrn3192.html
http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/documents/membytespublished.pdf
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/30/24/8214.abstract

Examine role of CamKII and correlations with problem solving, ADHD, etc

Examine the role of Dopamine in learning, as well as ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar, Creativity, Problem Solving

See Dopaminergic Pathways, specifically the mesolimbic and tuberoinfundibular pathways.

See Phasic and Tonic activity in dopamine release

See Arcuate nucleus, its metabolic nature, function and role in memory, learning, ADHD.

Examine the role of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine.

See Locus Coeruleus: See tonic and phasic activity and release of NE. Role in decision making, learning, attention, ADHD
http://jn.physiology.org/content/105/1/69.full