How Does ADD/ADHD Affect An Individual's Perceptual Abilities?
Although, ADD/ADHD starts in the brain, it involves the entire sensorium (vision,
smell, touch, hearing, etc.,) as well as the inner world of cognition and emotion.
When there is not a sufficient amount of neural connections needed to process the
"traffic" (increasing stimulus) smoothly, competition between various stimulus results.
When there is too much competitive stimulation from multiple external and internal
sources (too much visual stimulation, too much sound stimulation, too many internal
feelings and emotions, etc.) an individual with ADD/ADHD may become frustrated, irritated,
aggressive, and full of anxiety. When the limited neural network is overly taxed like
this, it becomes unable to "tune in" or focus on some stimulation, while "tuning out"
or "turning down" other stimulation.
The lack of ability to focus on a particular
stimulus while "tuning out" or "turning down" (attenuating) others, created undue "noise"
in the perceptual systems in the brain. For an ADD/ADHD individual, this perceptual
"neural-noise" is overly noxious and continuous, so much that it appears to be competitively
assaultive, crippling any attempt to concentrate on one stimulus while attenuating others.
This leaves an ADD/ADHD individual feeling helpless and overwhelmed, looking for a way to
survive the assaultive nature of their world.
Many strategies are possible, but two are the most common and most easily documented.
The first is regarding ADHD individuals. ADHDs are hypothesized to have an ample supply
of Acetylcholine, as well as clear, lipofuscin-free, unobstructed Cholinergic pathways,
allowing them to actively compete and overwhelm the intrusive messages. Thus, ADHD
individuals try to operate at a "noisier" level (being intensely hyperactive), trying
to "shout-down" the crowded array of competing stimulation in the brain.
ADDs and LDs are hypothesized to have low
Acetylcholine levels and adverse lipofuscin populations within the Cholinergic neural
pathways, making competitive responses more difficult. It becomes so "noisy" that it is
necessary to shut down all processing of the senses altogether, avoiding and deflecting
all stimulation. The never ending dissonance of "neural-noises" produce a powerful competitive
"numbing," almost hypnotic agent, and ADHD individuals "give up" to the competitively powerful,
undifferentiated "white-neural-noise" that is being generated by their sensorium because the
neural-thresholds of the sensorium have over-fired and no longer can be sustained. Thus, unlike
other children, the ADDs and LDs "shut-down" and "tune-out," producing high Theta and/or Alpha
brain waves (see brain maps below).
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