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These days, medications like Ritalin (available in pill and patch) in managing the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are being relied upon by sufferers of this disorder. However, scientists had difficulty pinpointing how these drugs work in the brain.

Recently, a new study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison shed some light on the ADHD drug mechanism mystery. As reported at the in the journal Biological Psychiatry, according to UW-Madison researchers, ADHD drugs primarily target the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a region of the brain that is associated with attention, decision-making and an individual's expression of personality – an important finding that would pose potential in the search for new ADHD treatments in the middle of a deep public concern over the widespread abuse of existing ADHD drugs.

"There's been a lot of concern over giving a potentially addictive drug to a child [with ADHD]," says lead author Craig Berridge, a UW-Madison professor of psychology. "But in order to come up with a better drug we must first know what the existing drugs do."