AI and ADHD; a Default Mode Network Amplifier.

AI: Yet One More Challenge for Those of Us with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) The struggle to move out of our Default Mode Network (DMN) just got a new accomplice.

As an ADHD person, the Default Mode Network is my greatest strength and my greatest challenge — all at the same time.

WHY? WHAT?

Let's start with the what. What Is the Default Mode Network? The Default Mode Network (DMN) is the brain network that is kind of the opposite of Executive Functions (EF) — also a brain network. In between the two lies the Salience Network (SN).

The DMN is the place in our brains where those of us with ADHD like to be. It's a human brain default. It's the place we create and come up with ideas. Our brain's natural place of making connections is also called fluid reasoning.

Dr. Barkley states that EFs are the networks and skills that we need to achieve a goal. They are a place of action. The SN is the switch between the two, which, for most people, is seamless. Most people can see an action and effortlessly switch out of thinking and into doing the action steps required to achieve it, then switch back to thinking without realizing they needed to switch between cognitive functions and without expelling conscious cognitive effort. They have the skills, but the skills do not require a high level of cognitive or emotional effort to execute.

Research supports this.

Research supports this. Studies from Stanford University have shown that cross-network interactions centered on the SN are significantly weaker in individuals with ADHD, and children with ADHD display more variable and less persistent brain states with shorter mean lifetimes — meaning the switch is measurably harder and less stable for us.

The Rubber Band

For those of us with ADHD or Autism or Both, it's hard to switch. Our brains actively resist using EFs. Some would even describe it as painful to focus, plan, and organize. Switching is hard and staying in our EFs is also challenging. It's like we have a super-strength rubber band connected to our switch — and when we're in EF mode, that rubber band is always pulling us back to DMN. This is what researchers call the "default-mode interference hypothesis": inattentiveness in ADHD may result from insufficient suppression of the DMN during goal-oriented tasks.

In people without ADHD, brain networks are reciprocal — one increases while the other declines. In ADHD, however, the DMN remains overly active even while the task-positive network is engaged. The brain's internal thought stream intrudes on external task performance. It makes us highly creative with many ideas — and challenges us to execute on any of them. There's a creative upside to this wiring. Having both systems online simultaneously — the DMN still humming while we try to execute — may be one reason many people were able to come up with unexpected solutions.

The relationship between ADHD, mind-wandering, and creativity is still being studied, but the connection between DMN activity and creative ideation is well-established in the broader neuroscience literature. So the same wiring that makes execution painful is the wiring that makes us exceptional idea generators. That's the deal. We don't get to pick one without the other.

So, Where Does AI Come Into This?

Conversations — which ADHD people tend to thrive in — can be a distraction. They can also be an extension of our DMN. By nature, we have many questions. We enjoy connecting our ideas to other people's ideas and expanding on them. This is where we light up. This is where we feel alive. And now we have a conversation partner that never gets tired, never changes the subject, and will go as deep as we want on anything we ask.

Recently, I noticed a lull in my mood and my ability to execute anything I wanted to do. I wasn't able to pin it down. Coaching myself, I kept asking: What is the new thing? Why am I more challenged than normal?

Is this my age? Suddenly, I had an AHA. I have been asking AI questions — and then losing hours discussing these ideas in depth. I have created some great material that has yet to be used or published. I am not accomplishing daily goals.

What's happening here? AI is acting as a DMN amplifier. Here’s what I think is happening — and I want to be transparent about what is research-backed and what is my own hypothesis formed in my DMN.

What research tells us:

AI tools can serve as powerful EF support tools for people with ADHD — helping organize to-do lists, break tasks into smaller steps, and manage time. Studies have shown reductions in attention deficit symptoms when chatbots are used as structured interventions.

What I'm hypothesizing:

For those of us with ADHD, AI conversations can also function as an infinite extension of our DMN. The conversational format — questions, connections, expansions, tangents; maps perfectly onto how our DMN operates. AI doesn't interrupt us to say "OK but what are you actually going to do with this?" It follows wherever we lead. It validates and expands every thread we pull on.

And that pull? It's the same pull as the rubber band. Except now the rubber band has a rocket strapped to it. The DMN already resists letting go. AI gives it a reason to never have to. We can stay in the idea space indefinitely — generating, connecting, exploring and it feels productive. We're creating material. We're having insights. We're going deep. But we're not switching. We're not engaging our EFs. We're not executing.

There is currently limited direct research on AI as a DMN-extending mechanism for ADHD specifically. This is a hypothesis formed in my DMN — which, let's be honest, is exactly the kind of thing my DMN would come up with. The irony is not lost on me.

What I'm Doing About It

Awareness is the first step — and for ADHD, awareness often has to happen out loud, in writing, or in conversation (hi, this blog post). I'm not saying AI is bad for ADHD. It can be an incredible tool. But like every tool, it matters how we use it.

For us, the question isn't just "Is this useful?" It's "Is this keeping me in my DMN when I need to be in my EFs?" If you're an ADHD person who has found yourself going down beautiful, fascinating, completely unproductive AI rabbit holes — you're not broken. You're not lazy. Your DMN found a new best friend, and your SN didn't get the memo that it's time to switch. Now the work is figuring out how to balance the strengths of AI (EF and DMN) with our ADHD challenge of knowing when and how to switch between the two.

References

ADDitude Magazine. (n.d.). ChatGPT on ADHD: Using AI as an executive function support.

ADDitude. https://www.additudemag.com

ADDitude Magazine. (n.d.). Default mode network: What is it & how does it impact ADHD?

ADDitude. https://www.additudemag.com

Barkley, R. A. (1997). ADHD and the nature of self-control. Guilford Press.

Barkley, R. A. (2012). Executive functions: What they are, how they work, and why they evolved. Guilford Press.

Barkley, R. A. (2015). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment (4th ed.). Guilford Press.

Cai, W., Chen, T., Szegletes, L., Supekar, K., & Menon, V. (2018). Aberrant time-varying cross-network interactions in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and the relation to attention deficits. Biological Psychiatry:

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Norman, L. J., Sudre, G., Price, J., Agrawal, A., Sturge-Apple, M., & Leibenluft, E. (2023). Evidence from “big data” for the default-mode hypothesis of ADHD: A mega-analysis of multiple large samples. Neuropsychopharmacology, 48, 281–289. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-022-01408-z

Pergantis, P., Bamicha, V., Skianis, C., & Drigas, A. (2025). AI chatbots and cognitive control: Enhancing executive functions through chatbot interactions — a systematic review. Brain Sciences, 15(1), 47. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15010047

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