No Medication – Just Brain Stimulation – Improved ADHD Attention
Modulating background brain activity improved attention in children with ADHD in a randomized, drug-free trial.
Could the background “static” in brain signals hold the key to treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) without medication?
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found that modulating this aperiodic activity with gentle electrical stimulation restored neural balance and improved attention in a randomized trial.
Why we need objective neural markers for ADHD
ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental conditions, impacting ~ 8% of children and adolescents globally and often leading to struggles with executive function.
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Currently, doctors diagnose and monitor ADHD largely based on behavioral reports, which can be subjective and vary from person to person. This lack of objective tools creates challenges for both patients and clinicians.
While scientists have long studied brain waves to find a clear signature of ADHD, traditional methods often yield mixed results.
“ADHD is highly heterogeneous, and many of the neural markers we’ve relied on until now don’t consistently capture that complexity,” said the authors of the latest study.
The new paper takes a different approach by focusing on “aperiodic activity” in the brain. This activity, measured by the aperiodic exponent, reflects the balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain – essentially, how stable or “noisy” the neural environment is.
Aperiodic exponent
The aperiodic exponent is a numerical value that measures the slope of background brain activity in an electroencephalography, reflecting the underlying balance between neural excitation and inhibition.
The team aimed to see if this background signal could reliably identify ADHD and if a new, drug-free treatment could help.
How brain stimulation affects ADHD symptoms
The researchers compared 23 children with ADHD to 33 typically developing peers, all aged 6–12 years. The children played a simple “Go/No-Go” game, pressing a button for green rockets while ignoring other colors, while wearing a cap that recorded electrical brain activity (electroencephalography).
Children with ADHD had significantly higher aperiodic exponents, suggesting their brains may have a specific imbalance in neural excitability compared to their peers.
In the second phase, the 23 children with ADHD participated in a treatment trial. They were randomly split into 2 groups; both groups underwent computerized brain training for 10 sessions; however, 1 group also received transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS).
Transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS)
tRNS is a non-invasive technique that applies a weak, fluctuating electrical current to the scalp to improve brain cell activity and communication.
The group receiving tRNS showed a significant drop in their elevated brain static, moving toward a more typical pattern. This brain change was still detectable three weeks after the treatment ended.
The neural changes were accompanied by behavioral improvements: children in the active group made fewer omission errors, sacrificing speed for greater accuracy and focus.
Future directions for ADHD research and care
Identifying a reliable brain signature such as the aperiodic exponent, could shift ADHD care from subjective checklists to objective biology.
“Our findings suggest that aperiodic brain activity may offer a more sensitive window into how the ADHD brain functions,” said the team.
It also supports the idea that we can directly retrain brain activity without relying solely on medication.
“This is not just about improving behavior in the moment,” the researchers explained. “We’re seeing changes in underlying brain dynamics that appear to move closer to typical developmental patterns.”
However, with only 23 children in the treatment phase, the sample is small, and the 3-week follow-up is short. Larger studies are needed to see if these changes last and how they translate to school or home life.
“Medication remains effective for many children, but it’s not the only path,” the researchers said, “Our results suggest that targeted brain-based interventions may help rebalance neural activity in ways we can now measure objectively.”
Reference: Ornella DK, Amal JA, Renu A, et al. The effects of transcranial random noise stimulation on excitation/inhibition balance in ADHD. NeuroImage: Clin. 2025:103923. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2025.103923
This article is a rework of a press release issued by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Material has been edited for length and content.
