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How can ADHD be both a source of daily struggle for millions and a common trait among highly accomplished artists and innovators like Justin Timberlake and Simone Biles? The science behind this paradox is the focus of new research from Constructor University neuroscientist Dr. Radwa Khalil published in iScience, which explores the shared neurological mechanisms that connect creativity and attention. The study demonstrates how certain cognitive processes associated with ADHD—such as defocused attention—can also be potent sources of creative thinking when properly harnessed.
The study, co-authored by researchers from several prestigious French research institutions, offers promising prospects for creative therapies that use things like art, music and dance as effective, non-pharmacological interventions for the nearly 8% of children worldwide affected by ADHD.
According to Dr. Khalil, the findings signal a shift in thinking about ADHD. "There’s a tendency to view attention-related conditions like ADHD purely through the lens of deficit: what is wrong, what is missing, or what needs to be fixed?" she said. She explained that while ADHD is often viewed as a deficit, new insights reveal that attention and creativity share neural networks. “Neurodivergent attention patterns, then, are not merely problems. They can open pathways to powerful creative thinking when directed appropriately,” she said.
The article, titled "Attention Unleashed: creative therapy for thoughtful transformation," synthesizes research from several disciplines to illustrate how creativity and attention processing involve overlapping neural networks. It further explains how free-associative thinking patterns that spark creative ideas are also associated with distractibility, mind-wandering and other behaviors commonly observed in ADHD.
Dr. Khalil offered an analogy to help clarify the connection: “Think of attention like a spotlight. Most people are able to focus their beam on one thing. ADHD brains have a wider spotlight, taking in more information at once. This condition can make routine tasks that require focus challenging. However, this broader view, or ‘defocused attention’, also encourages exploratory thinking and new idea combinations, which fuel creativity.”
Dr. Khalil and her colleagues see promising and practical therapeutic implications for those with ADHD and related disorders. Methods involving creative activities like art, music, dance, writing, gaming and more can provide structured opportunities for individuals with ADHD to channel and explore their defocused attention. Creative activity may also help strengthen the neural networks involved in attention control, rewiring patterns that contribute to traits like impulsivity and hyperactivity.
“Authentic creative expression is so much more than a pleasant distraction,” continued Dr. Khalil. “It is engaging the same neural circuits involved in attention control, essentially providing a workout for the brain. For a child with ADHD, the experience of getting ‘lost in the moment’ when creating art or playing music may actually be strengthening their ability to focus by working with their natural cognitive style instead of against it.”
While the outlook is promising, Dr. Khalil and her colleagues note that the link between attention and creativity remains only partially understood. To address this challenge, the article proposes a framework with detailed recommendations for advancing research, focusing on interdisciplinary collaboration, methodological innovation and longitudinal studies. Dr. Khalil emphasizes that fundamentally shifting ADHD treatment requires first establishing a comprehensive, interdisciplinary research agenda that unites neuroscientists, art therapists, clinicians and other professionals.
Dr. Radwa Khalil
rkhalil@constructor.university
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.115387
http://idwf.de/-DUNvBA - Related research from Dr. Khalil on creativity and pain
Dr. Radwa Khalil, Neuroscientist with Constructor University
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