It was always thought that learning difficulties are found in specific brain regions. But it turns out that this is not the case, according to the researchers from the University of Cambridge. Instead, it has more to do with the connections between 'hubs' within the brain.
Learning Disabilities and the Brain
A learning disability is not an indication of a person's intelligence. A person can have more than one learning disability, which can last a person's entire life but this does not affect how successful they are, given the appropriate support they need.
The frontal lobe of the brain is the primary area of fundamental abilities such as planning, organization, attention, impulse-control, and making sound judgment. Previous researches have associated learning disabilities to this part of our brain but a recent study about learning abilities says otherwise.
Some learning disabilities include dyslexia or the difficulty in reading words accurately and easily, dysgraphia, which is the condition of impaired handwriting, dyscalculia referring to the difficulty in understanding arithmetic concepts, and dyspraxia or the difficulty in speech.
ADHD, also known as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, is one of the most common learning disabilities. People with ADHD have a short attention span and sometimes this is associated with hyperactivity or impulsivity. It is commonly linked to specific brain parts such as the anterior cingulate cortex, caudate nucleus, pallidum, striatum, cerebellum, prefrontal cortex, the premotor cortex and most parts of the parietal lobe.
But scientists have a hard time identifying specific regions causing these disabilities. One of the reasons could be from the fact that diagnoses differ so much between one person to another.
ALSO READ : The Link Between the Brain and Architecture
A team of scientists from the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge proposed that one of the possible reasons why these diagnoses differ from each other is that there is no specific brain region that can either explain or cause these difficulties.
The 'hubs' experiment
To prove their claim, the researchers scanned 479 respondents, which include 337 children who were associated with learning-related cognitive problems and 142 children as a control group. The experiment involved using machine learning to map their brain differences. The results of their study were published on February 27 in Current Biology.
After their experiment, they found out that there are no brain regions associated with learning disabilities such as ADHD. Instead, they discovered that the children's brains are in 'hubs' or efficient traffic systems.
Those with well-connected hubs have no difficulties or may have specific ones like poor listening skills.
In contrast, those who were found to have poor connections have widespread and severe difficulties, such as that of 14 to 30 percent of children around the globe.
Dr. Duncan Astle said that one implication of their study is that it suggests that interventions should be less reliant on diagnostic labels. For example, two children with ADHD could be very different from each other.
He also suggested that their results could help teachers to design interventions from which a whole class could benefit. They could also tailor one that supports a child's areas of cognitive difficulty by harnessing their strengths.
The results may also explain why the drugs that are usually prescribed to these individuals are not proven effective. For example, the drug Methylphenidate (Ritalin), which is used to treat ADHD may appear to reduce hyperactivity but does not cure cognitive difficulties or improve educational progress. Drugs only have a little impact on a 'hub-based' organization because it only targets specific types of nerve cells.
This discovery is not the first time that the 'hubs' are connected to a mental health disorder. Earlier research from Cambridge University has previously shown that these 'hubs' also play a role in schizophrenia among adolescents. However, this is the first time that it can also be connected to the origin of different learning disabilities.
