Testing the relation between ADHD and hyperfocus experiences.
Hyperfocus is situational, not a red-flag symptom for ADHD.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Groen et al. (2020) asked adults to fill out a new hyperfocus scale.
Some had an ADHD diagnosis. Some had no diagnosis.
The team wanted to know if hyperfocus is mainly an ADHD thing.
What they found
People with ADHD did not score higher on total hyperfocus.
They only differed on one item: "I hyperfocus more in some places than others."
Healthy adults who simply act ADHD-ish also reported lots of hyperfocus.
How this fits with other research
Ozel-Kizil et al. (2016) looked similar but saw big group differences.
The older study used a longer scale and stricter cutoff for ADHD.
Those tweaks may have pumped up the scores, so the two papers do not truly clash.
Türkan et al. (2016) eyetracked kids and found shorter looks, the opposite of deep hyperfocus.
Together the picture is: brief glances in kids, deep dives in some adults, but the dives are not unique to ADHD.
Why it matters
Stop treating hyperfocus as proof of ADHD.
Ask where and when the client locks in.
Use that info to pick work spaces and break schedules, not to rule diagnoses in or out.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with hyperfocus, a transient experience of enhanced attentional focus and diminished awareness of time and the environment. AIMS: This study aims to investigate the association between the frequency, duration and pervasiveness of hyperfocus across different situations in adults with and without ADHD. METHOD AND PROCEDURES: Within a healthy sample (n = 1124), we analysed correlations between scores on the ADHD Rating Scale and self-reports of frequency, duration and pervasiveness of hyperfocus. An ADHD patient group (n = 78) was compared to matched healthy participants on all hyperfocus variables. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: In healthy adults, the frequency of hyperfocus was positively correlated with ADHD traits; older age and higher education were correlated with fewer hyperfocus occurrences in a smaller number of situations. ADHD patients and matched controls did not differ in the occurrence, frequency, duration and pervasiveness of hyperfocus, but hyperfocus was less likely to occur in educational and social situations in ADHD patients. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Hyperfocus experiences are not specific of ADHD patients. The divergent findings might reflect multiple hyperfocus dimensions (situational and motivational) assessed in different studies which need to be addressed in future research.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2020 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103789