A New Approach to ADHD Treatment! Can "Quieting the Mind" Be Explained by Science? ─ The Truth About ADHD and Brain Noise

Core Mechanism: "Quiet Baseline" → "Sharp Reaction Only When Needed"

Intuitively, one might imagine that a "well-focused brain = well-functioning prefrontal cortex = high activity." However, what was demonstrated this time is a model where lower "unnecessary firing (background activity)" during normal times allows for a strong reaction when a signal comes, improving performance.ScienceDaily

The reported mechanism is that lowering Homer1 increases GABA receptors (inhibitory brakes) in prefrontal cortex neurons. When the brakes work, the "noise" of constant, sluggish reactions is reduced, and the necessary moment's reaction stands out. In other words, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) increases, according to the explanation.ScienceDaily

What Shakes the "Common Sense of Treatment": Opposite to Stimulant Medications

The mainstream ADHD medications currently are stimulants that "boost" the functioning of circuits related to attention, such as the prefrontal cortex. The ScienceDaily article summarizes that "current treatments improve attention by increasing activity," and states that this study suggests a direction of **"lowering the baseline"** rather than "increasing."ScienceDaily

Researchers further comment that Homer1 has pharmacologically targetable splice sites, which could become a "knob" to adjust the brain's signal-to-noise. It's noteworthy that they describe the intended effect as "a quieting effect similar to meditation."ScienceDaily

Why the "Adolescent Window" is Important: Are Circuit "Habits" Fixed During Development?

Another crucial point is that the effect strongly depended on a short window during development (adolescence). The result that the same genetic manipulation in adults does not improve attention suggests the possibility that the "foundation of circuits supporting attention" is formed and fixed during development.ScienceDaily

Of course, it's premature to apply this directly to humans. However, if there is a similar "time window" in humans, discussions on "when and what interventions are effective" might become more precise, including not only medications but also sleep, exercise, stress management, and environmental adjustments.

Implications: Not Only ADHD but Also Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia?

The releases from ScienceDaily and Rockefeller University touch on the point that Homer1 is related not only to ADHD but also to **disorders involving differences in sensory processing and "sensory overload" (such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia).**ScienceDaily

"How to reduce noise" could become a theme that transcends attention research, leading to an understanding of neurodevelopment.

SNS Reactions: Keywords are "Quieting the Mind," "Noise Cancellation," "Meditation-like Medication?"

The following are observations on how it has been received online (within the observable range). Please read this as "trends in reactions" rather than medical advice.

1) Official/News Outlets: The Catchy Headline is "Quieting the Brain"

The headline of ScienceDaily itself summarizes the contrast as "quieting" the brain rather than "revving it up," which was conducive to spreading this framing.ScienceDaily

Additionally, Rockefeller University's official X post (text retrieval was limited, but snippets from search results) also highlighted the publication in Nature Neuroscience and the "new therapeutic approach."X (formerly Twitter)

2) Community of Affected Individuals: The Experience of "Quietness" Has Been Discussed Before

Interestingly, the experience of "the mind becoming quiet with medication" has been repeatedly discussed in communities of affected individuals even before the research announcement.
For example, on Reddit's r/adhdwomen, a poster on the third day of taking Concerta described how "the '50 radio stations' in their head quieted, and the quietness itself was scary," with comments like "you'll get used to it" and "thoughts become linear" following.Reddit

The explanation provided by this study, "reducing background activity (noise) and reacting only when necessary," aligns well with the verbalization of such "quietness," leading to reactions like "I get it" and "it's like noise cancellation" on social media.

3) Research and Medical Clusters: Expectations Alongside Caution on "Reproducibility," "Side Effects," and "Developmental Interventions"

From a researcher's perspective,

• the larger the effect size (20%), the more important it is to verify reproducibility and consider the possibility of overestimation.ScienceDaily

• Homer1 is a known molecule involved in neurotransmission, with a broad impact range = how the "quieting" operation affects other functions is unknown.The Rockefeller University

• If the effect depends on the developmental period, designing ethical and safe clinical applications becomes challenging.ScienceDaily
  These points are often discussed together.
  
  
  

Conclusion: "Concentration = Accelerator" is Not the Only Approach. The Era of "Noise Design" is Coming

This study reinterprets the attention difficulties in ADHD not as "lack of effort" or "mere activity reduction," but as a signal and noise separation issue, and suggests expanding the direction of treatment from "stimulation" to "quieting."ScienceDaily

Although still in mouse studies and distant from clinical application, the paradox that "a quiet brain supports concentration" provides hints not only for drug development but also for the idea of creating "concentration environments" in our daily lives (reducing noise and leaving only necessary stimuli).