- People with ADHD or similar traits may have an evolutionary advantage in finding food while in the wild.
- In a new experiment, researchers found that people with hallmarks of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder had better strategies for foraging than people with neurotypical traits.
- The findings from the study are supported by previous studies suggesting that nomadic lifestyles are linked to genetic mutations associated with ADHD.
People with ADHD or similar traits may have an evolutionary advantage in finding food while in the wild. In a new experiment, researchers found that people with hallmarks of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder had better strategies for foraging than people with neurotypical traits (such as restlessness and difficulty regulating where to focus their attention).
Based on their findings, researchers think that ADHD characteristics evolved as a survival strategy through an adaptation process to natural living conditions. This is a strategy that also prevents resource exploitation at the same point and instead enables the discovery of new food points. This may explain why ADHD is so common in humans today, affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide. “You would think that if these traits were truly negative, they would be selected against over evolutionary time,” neuroscientist David Barack of the University of Pennsylvania said in a statement. “Our findings are a first data point suggestive of advantages in certain electoral contexts.” said. In Barack and his team’s experiment, 457 participants were given the task of picking as many berries as they could from virtual bushes on the computer in a limited time. Each time a participant clicked on a cluster of berries, they consumed the virtual bush. Individuals then had to make a choice: either stay in the same cluster and pick fewer berries, or move to a new cluster. In some cases, it only took a second to move to a new fruit area on the screen. In other cases it took up to 5 seconds.
Those who screened negative for ADHD tended to stay in a berry bush for a very long time to get to the most edible food. People with ADHD-like traits were more likely to leave an area earlier and benefit slightly from a new berry bush, and they also picked more berries at the end of the experiment. The findings are supported by previous studies suggesting that nomadic lifestyles are linked to genetic mutations associated with ADHD. But when you’re outside a foraging society, ADHD traits may not always be so beneficial. Modern decisions are often made in situations where resources are abundant and sustainable. Constant reward-seeking behavior, caused by dysfunction of dopamine in the brain’s reward centers, causes people with ADHD to constantly switch between tasks without completing any of the tasks. The idea that ADHD-like traits are adaptive in some environments is highly speculative and needs to be examined more thoroughly in future research.
Previous studies have found that search patterns in people with ADHD tend to be longer and more circuitous. This may contribute to them reaching higher levels of creativity. Some studies on mice found that when activity-related parts of the mammalian brain (in those with ADHD) were simulated, the rodents tended to leave foraging areas earlier. Together, these findings suggest that certain neural systems somehow tune the brain for “exploration and exploitation” decisions. ADHD can pose a serious problem when it comes to navigating modern life. However, new findings suggest that such negativities may largely be due to coincidence.
Study Proceedings of the Royal Society BIt was published in .
Compiled by: Burçin Bağatur