Exploring the efficacy of medication and movement in ADHD
New research from the Working to Enhance Brain and Body Research (WEBB) Lab, led by education professor Barbara Fenesi, builds on a groundbreaking 2024 study about the role of movement in the management of attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) in children.
The 2024 study, Hyperactivity in ADHD: Friend or Foe?, showed that children with ADHD perform better on cognitive tasks when engaging in movement compared to remaining stationary. In 2025, the lab set out to further examine how a key variable—medication use—would impact the efficacy of movement in improving cognitive functioning in children with ADHD.
“Our new study, Medication vs. Movement in ADHD: Interaction Between Medication and Physical Activity on Neurocognitive Functioning, gives us better insight into potential overlapping neurocognitive mechanisms between movement and medication so that we can develop more effective treatments for ADHD as well as better understand the disorder’s underlying pathways,” said Fenesi.
Similar to the first study, participants engaged in attention-demanding tasks while using a desk cycle; their results were then compared to when they were asked to remain stationary during the same attention-demanding tasks. Participants wore caps featuring functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a brain monitoring technique that measures changes in blood flow to the brain.
For children with ADHD who were medicated, engaging in movement during attention-demanding tasks did not improve outcomes above and beyond remaining stationary. However, for children with ADHD who were unmedicated, engaging in movement during attention-demanding tasks, versus remaining stationary, improved performance and blood flow to the pre-frontal cortex, which controls focusing, problem solving and other executive functioning tasks.
The new study offers hope for children who are unable to pursue medication as a treatment option due to side effects or other factors. Simple desk-based movement during attention-demanding tasks may produce similar effects to medication in supporting cognitive functioning.
“Although ADHD medication is helpful for many, it is not helpful for everyone and alternative approaches to help promote cognitive functioning are necessary to identify,” Fenesi explained.
“This work points to a larger issue and underscores how environments like classrooms and workplaces need to offer outlets for stimulating engagement of the mind and body to create the necessary conditions for focused attention to emerge so everyone can thrive.”
