It is well known that cerebral neuroplasticity stems from environmental stimulation, so a lack of stimulation logically leads to a deficit as a consequence of cerebral hypofunctionality. In the case of attention deficit disorder (ADD-ADHD), there is hypofunctionality of the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for executive function: how to plan an action, initiate it, regulate whether it is being done well or poorly, notice errors and correct them, see if a plan is being followed, avoid distractions from irrelevant stimuli, reject interferences, be flexible if circumstances change, and be able to finish an initiated action. Therefore, when we observe children with ADD-ADHD, we detect that they make errors in these areas and present difficulties when performing most of these actions.
Recent studies in neuroeducation have detected that the parietal lobe, which plays a role in sensory information processing, and the cerebellum, associated with movement, may also be involved in ADHD.
For its part, dopamine contributes to attention and concentration. Sight triggers a secretion of dopamine that aids concentration and attention. A PET study revealed that in adults with ADHD, dopamine activity was depressed in the caudate and limbic regions, which may contribute to ADD-ADHD.
However, in the study carried out by Soria-Claros, Serrano-Marugán, Quintero and Ortiz (2016), it was found that regular tactile stimulation allows a greater number of synaptic connections in parieto-occipital areas, especially in early ages where parieto-occipital activity is much greater than in adults, which can improve ADHD symptoms.
In the study, a program of passive tactile stimulation with systematic, ordered, and organized repetition of tactile stimuli was applied to students with ADD-ADHD, with the aim of evaluating whether it increased parietal cerebral plasticity, responsible for posterior cortical attention.
Two groups of children were used: the control group and the experimental group, to whom evoked potentials were applied, i.e., specific markers of underlying neuronal activation to different cognitive tasks mainly related to attention, selection, and working memory processes.
Mainly, the N200 wave was used, which is a negative wave appearing around 200 milliseconds and is associated with changes in the stimulus environment and has been interpreted as an automatic filtering stage for selective attention to novelty, and the P300 wave, which is a positive wave occurring around 300 milliseconds after stimulus onset and is associated with working memory and attention as well as decision-making or cognitive closure processes.
The research results indicated a substantial improvement in the experimental group at the end of the study, which indicates the effect of stimulation throughout the school year on attentional processes of response selection and executive control underlying the N200 and P300 waves. The most significant differences between the beginning and the end of the study in the localization of N200 wave sources were found only in the experimental group during tactile stimulation in broad posterior temporal, parietal, and occipital cortical areas; while for the P300 wave, they were found in broad premotor and parietal cortical areas.
The improvement in attentional processes and the latency of the N200 and P300 waves in the experimental group aligns with other research that justifies a great neurophysiological improvement of sensory and cognitive training in cortical plasticity and in the improvement of learning and memory.
In this sense, the brain that is stimulated through enriched environments with multiple and varied stimulations develops much more and improves in different cognitive parameters, as do certain brain circuits associated with attentional processes if passive tactile stimulation is used, which favors the cerebral neuroplasticity of posterior cortical areas. Teacher training in neuroeducation allows the optimization of capacities for children with and without learning disorders.