Those brain systems don’t have one-to-one relationships with psychiatric diagnosis but may underlie various conditions.įor example, the brain system that we believe is involved in the pleasure response, or what we call “reward processing,” is the same brain system associated with both ADHD and substance use disorders. And the reason for that is because, as our understanding of the brain improves, we are looking at the brain much more from the perspective of underlying circuits or brain systems. However, from a research perspective, brain scans - and brain MRIs, in particular - are quite important in helping us think about co-occurring conditions. Some parents see this in the context of playing a video game, where sometimes a child who has even the worst case of ADHD can still actually pay attention quite well. But when they do the T.O.V.A., their attention does not look so bad. In certain settings, the attention of some children with ADHD is very impaired. The other issue is a lack of sensitivity. For example, someone who is profoundly depressed is also going to have impairments in attention, so this test lacks what we call the “specificity to ADHD.” Why? An individual could do very poorly on the T.O.V.A., but not because they have ADHD. and continuous performance task may be helpful in giving the diagnosing clinician additional information, but in isolation they are not diagnostic, and they shouldn’t be used to diagnose ADHD. No brain imaging modality - MRI, SPECT scan, T.O.V.A, or other - can accurately diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD or ADD).ĭespite what you may have read in the popular press, none of these tools can be used reliably as accurate, stand-alone diagnostic tools to identify ADHD. Can brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnose ADHD? Unfortunately, but unequivocally, no.