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According to the study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society BPeople with ADHD-like traits are less likely to live among depleting food resources and more likely to explore other options, which may give them an advantage in foraging in some environments.
The findings call into question some of the negative associations of ADHD, described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood.” And they seem to support the ““evolutionary mismatch” Neurodivergence theory, which posits that such traits are disadvantages only in certain environments.
Using an online berry-picking game based on algorithms derived from optimal foraging theory, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania analyzed the decisions of 457 participants who were asked to pick as many berries as possible under time pressure. Players chose between continuing to harvest from the same bushes (depleting them of berries and decreasing their yields) and traveling to different bushes, which were more abundant in fruit but cost players precious time.
After the game, participants completed an online screening assessment of ADHD symptoms developed by the World Health Organization. The researchers found that those who reported ADHD-like symptoms moved between patches more frequently and picked more berries overall.
“The increased foraging ability of participants with ADHD-like behavior observed here suggests that the prevalence and persistence of ADHD in human populations may serve an adaptive function in some environments,” they concluded.
The study had several limitations. The analysis compared 206 participants who reported more ADHD attributes with those who did not, but there was no clinical evaluation of the participants, and only 24 participants reported a prior ADHD diagnosis. It is unclear how well the virtual foraging task aligns with real-life foraging behavior, rather than other skills such as computer games, and study participants were recruited through a sample online voluntarily, rather than a random sample of the population.
However, health experts say the study has important implications for how we understand and view conditions like ADHD.
Annie Swanepoel, a child and adolescent psychiatrist who studies neurodivergent conditions from an evolutionary perspective and was not involved in the study, said it offered an evolutionary explanation for why ADHD-like traits are common.
“ADHD is not a disorder, it is a variation that offers an advantage in certain environments where the willingness to take risks and have a lot of energy are advantageous,” Swanepoel, based in England, said in an email Wednesday.
“People often mistakenly think that ‘survival of the fittest’ means that those who are stronger, faster or smarter survive. This is not the case: it is not about being “fit” but rather about the “goodness of fit” between the individual and the environment. “That’s why there are turtles and slugs, as well as cheetahs and elephants.”
For years, researchers have theorized that hyperstimulated modern environments are especially unsuitable for people with ADHD, suggesting that Internet use in particular could exacerbate symptoms.
Since the first national survey of childhood ADHD was conducted in 1997, ADHD diagnoses among children have steadily increased in the United States. Today, the CDC estimates that about 1 in 10 American children have a diagnosis. According to CDC guidelines, “they may have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors (they may act without thinking about what the outcome will be), or be overly active.”
For Swanepoel, these symptoms are negative only because of the way we organize our societies, creating an “evolutionary mismatch” between certain human attributes and the demands of modern life.
“Our modern environments are STRANGE (Western, industrialized, educated, wealthy, democratic) and nothing like the environment our ancestors lived in as hunter-gatherers for 95% of our history,” he wrote.
“The strengths of children with ADHD (hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention) are considered problematic as they do not fit in our modern school environment, where children are expected to sit still and listen, while they may have been strengths in our ancestral environments”. she added. Swanepoel maintains that children with ADHD symptoms are more likely to thrive in environments with higher activity levels and more hands-on learning.
The study shows how crucial a person’s environment is in how potential neurodivergent traits like ADHD manifest. said Graham Music, a child and adolescent psychotherapist at London’s Tavistock Clinic. “There could be a mismatch between the environments we expect people to live in and the psychological traits they have.”
Instead of treating ADHD as a problem that needs solving in a child, Music suggests asking a different question: “In what environment could they thrive?”