I'm surprised that they are considering it a 'breakthrough'... I thought they knew that already.

But I guess they got a big govt. grant ;-)

People talk about top-down and bottom-up processing...

Top-down processing is processing that is driven from your brain. So... Imagining a snake is a top-down process (imagining is a top-down process). It can take a great deal of EFFORT to control your top-down processes such that you are thinking coherant lines of thought.

Bottom-up processing is processing that is driven from the environment. So... Seeing a snake out of the corner of your eye can result in your attention being drawn to it (your head turning so the stimulus is in clear view). Having your attention captured like that is an AUTOMATIC process that distracts you from the above activity.

So...

If the problem with ADD was that one is trying to think coherant lines of thought (solving a math problem or imagining something complex, for example) but ones attention is continually captured by other things in the environment (potential snakes and the like) then...

The study would be fairly interesting. It might be that you can 'mute' the environmental stimuli so they have less power to capture the attention. (This could help with specific phobias too perhaps).

But if the problem with ADD was that one can't think coherant lines of thought in virtue of being distracted by other thoughts (or other top-down processes) then the study would be a lot less relevant.

Claiming 'potential benefits to sufferers' is a great way to get funding for a grant on attention / consciousness :-)