8 ms·

ADHD linked with proclivity to explore while foraging

34 points by geox 3y ago

jdblair 3y ago
...in a video game simulation.
- ciroduran 3y ago
  It could definitely be me
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
pjerem 3y ago
Wow, reading something positive about ADHD is … refreshing.
- KevinMS 3y ago
  it almost feels forced
Aurornis 3y ago
> Here we tested this pre-registered hypothesis by examining how human participants collected resources in an online foraging task. On every trial, participants chose either to continue to collect rewards from a depleting patch of resources or to replenish the patch. Participants also completed a well-validated ADHD self-report screening assessment Participants self-reported ADHD symptoms in a simple survey and the researchers tried to correlate those scores with various metrics in their ultra-simple game. This is a good example of those questionable psychology studies where they come up with a contrived game and a survey, then try to find a correlation. Repeat experiments until one produces a p value below 0.05, then wrap a narrative around it and push it out to the science journalism reductionism machine.
- readthenotes1 3y ago
  I find it odd that the descriptions of alternative attention foci were only other foraging points and not squirrels.
pksebben 3y ago
This tracks. It occurs to me that the Ds in AD(H)D and other diagnoses are predicated on a common assumption; that of environment. It's not a 'disorder' or 'deficit' if it's adaptive - it's just that for a lot of what we do (schooling, taxes, paperwork, labour) a tendency to lose focus on uninteresting BS is maladapted. (can you guess whether I have a diagnosis myself?) Notably, I've found that with certain tasks, I excel due to my drive to constantly "move on". Some stages of software drafting benefit greatly from a habit of voraciously searching out multiple solutions (so you can assess which works best before comitting). Now, it's true that unmedicated I'd likely finish very few projects, but combining the two modalities has yielded many positive results. I wonder how many other "Disorders" have positive adaptations to modern life, and whether we could perhaps provide alternative educational paths to better leverage them. Anectodally, more than a few of the people I know who have been very successful in places that require social interaction (team leads, coordinators, sales) have been diagnosed Bipolar. Had I gotten a better education on how to properly use and manage the benefits and costs of my ADHD early on, I'm pretty sure I could have been contributing better to society a lot earlier. Makes me wonder how many folks are out there that just never stumbled on the answers.

34 points by geox 3y ago

jdblair 3y ago

...in a video game simulation.

ciroduran 3y ago
It could definitely be me

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

pjerem 3y ago

Wow, reading something positive about ADHD is … refreshing.

KevinMS 3y ago
it almost feels forced

Aurornis 3y ago

> Here we tested this pre-registered hypothesis by examining how human participants collected resources in an online foraging task. On every trial, participants chose either to continue to collect rewards from a depleting patch of resources or to replenish the patch. Participants also completed a well-validated ADHD self-report screening assessment Participants self-reported ADHD symptoms in a simple survey and the researchers tried to correlate those scores with various metrics in their ultra-simple game. This is a good example of those questionable psychology studies where they come up with a contrived game and a survey, then try to find a correlation. Repeat experiments until one produces a p value below 0.05, then wrap a narrative around it and push it out to the science journalism reductionism machine.

readthenotes1 3y ago
I find it odd that the descriptions of alternative attention foci were only other foraging points and not squirrels.

pksebben 3y ago

This tracks. It occurs to me that the Ds in AD(H)D and other diagnoses are predicated on a common assumption; that of environment. It's not a 'disorder' or 'deficit' if it's adaptive - it's just that for a lot of what we do (schooling, taxes, paperwork, labour) a tendency to lose focus on uninteresting BS is maladapted. (can you guess whether I have a diagnosis myself?) Notably, I've found that with certain tasks, I excel due to my drive to constantly "move on". Some stages of software drafting benefit greatly from a habit of voraciously searching out multiple solutions (so you can assess which works best before comitting). Now, it's true that unmedicated I'd likely finish very few projects, but combining the two modalities has yielded many positive results. I wonder how many other "Disorders" have positive adaptations to modern life, and whether we could perhaps provide alternative educational paths to better leverage them. Anectodally, more than a few of the people I know who have been very successful in places that require social interaction (team leads, coordinators, sales) have been diagnosed Bipolar. Had I gotten a better education on how to properly use and manage the benefits and costs of my ADHD early on, I'm pretty sure I could have been contributing better to society a lot earlier. Makes me wonder how many folks are out there that just never stumbled on the answers.