ABSTRACT
In 1977, a research group was assembled at the University of North Carolina with a multidisciplinary orientation around the problem of childhood hyperactivity and the pharmacology of stimulant drugs. The disciplines involved, in addition to psychiatry, were neuropharmacology, behavioral and experimental psychology, analytic and medicinal chemistry, and neuropsychology. In light of the extensive clinical, preclinical, and theoretical literature on childhood hyperactivity, it is surprising that this seeming paradox has elicited so little in the way of critical attention. The transition has been from a traditional and fairly circumscribed question in psychopharmacology to a new interest in the neuropsychological approach to hyperactivity and its treatment. The initial focus of the research program was the pharmacology of the frequently prescribed stimulant, methylphenidate, but the interest of the group eventually shifted to the broader question of a neural substrate for the syndrome of childhood hyperactivity.
