Elaine Pinggal from Monash University, and colleagues assessed how sleep-like brain activity in awake adults influences sustained attention during a task.

The researchers compared sleep-like brain activity from 32 medication-withdrawn adults with ADHD to 31 neurotypical adults as participants performed a task requiring sustained attention. The findings have been published in JNeurosci.

The ADHD group had more sleep-like brain activity, which was associated with more lapses in attention. Further analyses revealed that this activity may drive the relationship between ADHD and attention problems, including task errors, slower reaction times, and sleepiness.