A score that shows how easily distracted you are could one day help diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which may present as someone finding it difficult to concentrate or even being hyper-focused.
One of the main symptoms of ADHD for many people is difficulty focusing on a particular task. There are several different types of distraction, says Han Zhang at the University of Michigan. Namely, these are repeated negative thoughts, other types of intrusive thoughts and mind wandering, or daydreaming, he says.
People who experience a high level of one type of distraction are more likely to be easily distracted in other ways, says Zhang. Together with his colleagues, Zhang wanted to come up with a standard score for distractibility that could be used clinically.
