\u201cI prescribe a lot of stimulants as a child neurologist, and I\u2019ve always been taught that they facilitate attention systems to give people more voluntary control over what they pay attention to,\u201d said assistant professor of neurology Benjamin Kay, MD, PhD, in a statement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, a new study from Kay and coauthors is casting doubt on this long-held presumption.\u00a0<\/p>\n The team, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, examined brain imaging data from almost 6,000 children included in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, a long-term neurodevelopmental study taking place across multiple centers nationwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n The data comprised functional magnetic resonance imaging<\/a> (fMRI) scans, which allowed the team to compare patterns of brain connectivity between children who had taken a stimulant drug on the day of their scan and those who had not.<\/p>\n The results were then validated with an experiment involving five adults who did not normally use stimulant medications and did not have ADHD diagnoses themselves. These adults had their brains scanned before and after taking a dose of methylphenidate, the active ingredient in Ritalin.\u00a0<\/p>\n What the team saw in both the children and adults were changes in brain connectivity in the wakefulness and reward centers of the brain, activated by the medication \u2013 not, as might have been expected, the attention centers.<\/p>\n Brain areas highlighted in yellow and orange were activated by the stimulant drugs. These are regions associated with wakefulness and reward.<\/p>\n Image credit: Benjamin Kay<\/p>\n Kay explained that \u201cthe improvement we observe in attention is a secondary effect of a child being more alert and finding a task more rewarding, which naturally helps them pay more attention to it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese results also provide a potential explanation for how stimulants treat hyperactivity, which previously seemed paradoxical,\u201d added coauthor and professor of neurology Nico U. Dosenbach, MD, PhD. Although drugs like Ritalin are often misused by those who think of them as \u201cstudy\u201d or \u201csmart\u201d drugs<\/a>, it\u2019s a confusing reality that these medications cause people without ADHD to become overstimulated, erratic<\/a>, and less able to focus \u2013 whereas they have pretty much the opposite effect when used in ADHD treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever kids can\u2019t focus on \u2013 those tasks that make them fidgety \u2013 are tasks that they find unrewarding. On a stimulant, they can sit still better because they\u2019re not getting up to find something better to do,\u201d said Dosenbach.<\/p>\n Further research revealed that the children with the most severe ADHD symptoms<\/a> showed the greatest improvements in cognitive test scores after taking the medications. Prescription meds could also counteract the effects of not getting enough sleep in the kids with ADHD, but not in neurotypical kids (who were taking the drugs for unrelated reasons). This is important to note, because people with ADHD often experience sleep disorders<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw that if a participant didn\u2019t sleep enough, but they took a stimulant, the brain signature of insufficient sleep was erased, as were the associated behavioral and cognitive decrements,\u201d said Dosenbach.<\/p>\n This is not actually great news, Kay explained, as the effects of sleep deprivation may be masked by medication, meaning that kids are still at risk of long-term health consequences from chronic sleeplessness.<\/p>\n \u201cNot getting enough sleep is always bad for you, and it\u2019s especially bad for kids,\u201d Kay said, urging healthcare providers seeing children with ADHD to consider sleep as a factor in their treatment plans.<\/p>\n Some recent research suggests that up to 25 percent of US adults<\/a> believe they may have ADHD. As awareness of neurodiversity<\/a> increases and more people seek diagnosis and treatment, improving scientific understanding of how these treatments work can only be a good thing.<\/p>\n![\"WashU](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/brain_small_700x525_web.gif\" "\\"WashU")
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