Distractibility, or impulsivity, may have been an evolutionary advantage for our ancestors. This is evidenced by a new study cited by The Guardian. It is noted that the traits characteristic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) helped improve the tactics of our ancestors while searching for food, UNN reports.
Context
ADHD is a nervous system disorder with symptoms that include impulsivity, disorganization, and difficulty concentrating. Although prevalence estimates vary, the number of diagnoses has increased in many countries, including the UK.
Details
The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, analyzed data from 457 adults who played an online food-finding game in which they had to collect as many berries as possible in eight minutes. The number of berries obtained from each bush decreased depending on how many times it was picked. During the task, participants could either continue picking berries from the bushes in their original location or move to a new area - although this cost them time.
The researchers found that participants with higher ADHD scores spent less time in each area of the bush than participants with lower scores. In other words, they were more likely to leave the current area and look for a new one.
According to this study, some of the ADHD traits that are currently perceived negatively could have helped people seek out new areas to find food.
According to Dr. David Barak of the University of Pennsylvania, researchers draw conclusions that are a starting point of data that indicate preferences in certain choice contexts.
If [these traits] were really negative, then one would think that in the course of evolutionary time they would be opposed
According to the researchers, their findings are in line with other work that suggests that nomadic populations that benefit from research tend to have genes associated with ADHD.
However, the researchers add that the study has certain limitations, including the fact that ADHD-like symptoms are based on self-reports.
Therefore, it is necessary to conduct experiments involving people diagnosed with ADHD and real food search tasks - this experiment will require much more effort to move between patches than in an online game.
Recall
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