Original illustrated sketchnote
Study sketchnote
Research summary by Kristen McClure, MSW, LCSW
Flourishing Women LLC
Study: Luo, Z., & Zhang, D.-W. (2025). Rhythms of relief: Perspectives on neurocognitive mechanisms of music interventions in ADHD. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1476928. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1476928
Why was this paper written?
The authors wanted to explain how music might support ADHD brains.
Previous research has suggested that music activities may help with attention, self-control, timing, emotions, and social connection. Researchers still do not clearly understand why these effects might happen.
The authors organized the existing ideas into seven possible ways music could support ADHD functioning.
What kind of paper was this?
This was a perspective article and narrative review.
The authors discussed earlier studies involving ADHD participants and research involving other populations. They used those findings to propose possible explanations and questions for future research.
This was not a new experiment. The researchers did not recruit participants or test a particular music program.
It was also not a systematic review or meta-analysis. The authors did not describe a structured search for every relevant study or statistically combine the findings.
The paper is useful for developing research questions. It cannot prove that music treats ADHD or that the seven proposed explanations are correct.
What counts as a music intervention?
The authors included three forms:
- Active music interventions: Making music, singing, drumming, moving to rhythm, playing an instrument, or improvising with a music therapist.
- Passive music interventions: Listening to music, such as background music during a task or relaxing music before therapy.
- Mixed interventions: Listening to music and actively participating.
These are not interchangeable. Listening to music while doing homework is different from participating in structured music therapy.
What were the seven proposed pathways?
1. Executive functions
Executive functions help us begin tasks, hold information in mind, shift between activities, pause before acting, and organize behavior.
A few small ADHD studies reported improvements in inhibitory control after rhythm training, music activities, or structured listening programs. Inhibitory control means being able to pause or stop an automatic response when needed.
The studies were preliminary. Some used small samples, lacked strong comparison conditions, or involved only a few cases. We do not yet know whether the changes last or improve everyday functioning.
2. Sense of timing
Some ADHD people have difficulty noticing time passing, estimating duration, coordinating movement with time, waiting, or beginning and ending activities at the intended time.
Rhythm provides an external pattern that the brain and body can follow. One early study found improved timing after rhythm training in children with ADHD. This is promising, but one preliminary study cannot establish that rhythm training improves everyday time-related difficulties.
3. Arousal regulation
Arousal refers to how alert, activated, or ready the brain and body are.
Some ADHD people need additional stimulation to remain engaged with repetitive or uninteresting tasks. Music may sometimes provide enough stimulation to support attention.
Earlier studies found that background music helped some children with ADHD during monotonous academic work. More stimulation is not always helpful, however. Music could support attention during a boring task and interfere during a complicated or already stimulating task.
A more useful question than “Does music help ADHD?” is:
Does this music provide the right amount of stimulation for this person during this task?
4. Default mode network activity
The default mode network, or DMN, is a group of connected brain regions involved in daydreaming, remembering, and thinking about ourselves.
During many tasks, the brain needs to reduce some DMN activity and direct more attention toward the task. Researchers have found differences in this process in ADHD.
The authors proposed that music might help shift or organize DMN activity. This possibility has not been directly studied in ADHD. The evidence discussed here came from brain-imaging studies involving other populations.
5. Neural entrainment
Neural entrainment means that patterns of brain activity begin to line up with an outside rhythm.
When a person hears a steady beat, the rhythm may help the brain predict when the next sound or movement will occur. The authors proposed that rhythm might provide external structure for attention, timing, or movement.
This is a scientifically plausible idea, but direct ADHD evidence is still limited.
6. Emotional regulation
Music can influence mood, energy, physical activation, and emotional experience.
In one study, adults with ADHD reported less negative mood after listening to Mozart for one session. Other preliminary reports described emotional or physical changes when music was added to therapy.
These findings do not show that one kind of music works for everyone or that benefits continue after the music ends. Music that settles one person may irritate, overwhelm, or activate another.
7. Social connection
Making music with other people can involve shared attention, coordinated timing, communication, and awareness of others.
One small study found improved social skills after children and adolescents participated in group music activities. The authors also used autism research and studies involving people without ADHD to suggest possible benefits.
Music may offer a structured way to connect that does not depend entirely on conversation. Direct ADHD research remains limited.
What did the paper find overall?
The paper did not establish that music is an effective ADHD treatment.
It identified seven possible pathways:
- Executive functions
- Timing
- Arousal regulation
- Default mode network activity
- Neural entrainment
- Emotional regulation
- Social connection
Some early ADHD studies reported encouraging results. However:
- many studies were small
- some lacked strong comparison conditions
- some were unblinded
- some were case reports
- several mechanisms have not been studied directly in ADHD
- much of the supporting evidence came from other populations
Evidence from another population can help researchers form a hypothesis. It does not prove that the same effect occurs in ADHD.
What can we reasonably conclude?
Music may be a useful support for some ADHD people when it is matched to the person and situation.
We cannot yet conclude that:
- music therapy reliably reduces ADHD symptoms
- music changes ADHD brain networks in the ways proposed
- changes on research tasks transfer to daily life
- one kind of music works for most ADHD people
- music should replace established ADHD treatment
The most defensible conclusion is that music is promising enough for further study and flexible enough to explore as an individualized support.
Was the paper neurodivergent affirming?
The paper supports tailoring music interventions to individual ADHD profiles. That is compatible with a personalized approach.
Much of its language, however, describes ADHD through “deficits,” “impairments,” and symptoms that should be reduced. It gives less attention to:
- ADHD people’s own experiences
- sensory preferences
- personal and cultural relationships with music
- strengths related to rhythm, creativity, and musical engagement
- environmental demands and person–environment fit
- music as self-directed regulation
A more affirming interpretation is that music may provide external rhythm, meaningful stimulation, emotional expression, movement, and connection. These resources may help an ADHD person work with their nervous system rather than forcing it to function like a non-ADHD nervous system.
How can this information help in everyday life?
Use observation and experimentation rather than prescribing music as a universal ADHD strategy.
Ask:
- Does music help me begin this task?
- Does it help me stay engaged?
- Does it make thinking harder?
- Do I need lyrics, instrumental music, rhythm, or silence?
- Does moving or making music help more than listening?
- Does this music settle me or provide needed energy?
- Does the answer change depending on the task?
Someone might benefit from:
- energetic music while starting housework
- instrumental music during repetitive paperwork
- a rhythmic cue during transitions
- drumming or movement when their body needs stimulation
- familiar music during emotional overwhelm
- silence when reading complicated information
- shared music-making as a less conversation-heavy form of connection
The same person may need different sound environments at different times. Stimulation needs can change with interest, fatigue, emotion, sensory load, medication, and task difficulty.
The most important takeaway
Music is not yet a proven stand-alone ADHD treatment. It may be a meaningful and practical support when it is chosen according to the person, task, sensory preferences, and current need for stimulation.
Notice the effect rather than assuming music should help.
Kristen McClure, MSW, LCSW | Flourishing Women LLC
Luo, Z., & Zhang, D.-W. (2025). Rhythms of relief: Perspectives on neurocognitive mechanisms of music interventions in ADHD. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1476928. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1476928