Every brain is a crowd.
Around 86 billion neurons, and no two brains wired the same way. Scroll, and this crowd will show how some brains are wired differently.
Visual: thousands of dots drift in a slow spiral, like a galaxy.
Learn
How brains differ
What ADHD, autistic, dyslexic, dyspraxic, dyscalculic and Tourette brains tend to do differently, told as a short scroll story. Every claim is labelled by how strong the evidence is, and linked to its source.
Last updated: October 2026
Evidence labels
Established Emerging Contested Lived experience
What do these mean?
- Established
- Replicated in large studies or consensus statements.
- Emerging
- Consistent so far, but small or mixed evidence.
- Contested
- Studies conflict, or a key claim hasn't replicated.
- Lived experience
- Widely reported by neurodivergent people, not yet well studied.
The story, step by step
The moving dots behind the text are illustration. Each step describes in words what the dots show.
A shape we all share.
The basic architecture is human. The wiring, connection by connection, is personal.
Visual: the dots gather into the shape of a human brain, seen from the side.
Networks
Networks, not spots.
There is no ADHD spot or autism centre. The default mode network runs inner thought; the control network holds your goals. Most differences live in how networks like these talk to each other.
Region · Default mode and control · group average
Visual: two areas along the middle of the brain and one area at the front-side are outlined and lit.
Scans show averages, not people.
These two clouds are two groups. In ADHD, average brain-volume differences are small, mostly in children, and the groups overlap almost completely. No brain scan can diagnose ADHD or autism.
Visual: the dots form two bell-shaped curves that almost completely overlap.
ADHD
Attention that varies, not attention that's missing.
When a task starts, the inner-thought network should quieten. In ADHD it often keeps talking, and bursts break into focus. The salience network pulls you back, then it happens again.
Region · Inner thought vs the task · group average
Visual: the middle of the brain stays lit while a stream of dots travels from the front to the middle and back again.
Time feels different.
Across 55 studies, people with ADHD sensed time less precisely. "Five more minutes" quietly becomes forty.
Region · Timing circuits · group average
Visual: the cerebellum, at the bottom-back of the brain, is outlined and lit.
Autism
The world arrives loud.
Sensory differences are part of the diagnosis. The fridge hum doesn't fade. The clothing tag stays loud all day.
Region · Sensory cortices · group average
Visual: areas at the back, sides and top of the brain are lit, and the dots there jitter.
Misunderstanding runs both ways.
Non-autistic people misread autistic people too. Information passed between autistic people as well as between non-autistic people. Less got through in mixed groups.
Visual: two overlapping circles of dots, one coloured and one neutral.
Dyslexia
One glance, one word.
Skilled readers see a familiar word as a single shape, recognised by an area on the underside of the left brain that learns to link print with sound.
Visual: the dots spell the word "restaurant" as one solid shape.
Piece by piece.
In dyslexia that link is weaker, so words get assembled letter by letter. It costs effort and energy, not intelligence.
Visual: the word breaks into separate letters, tilted and scattered.
Dyspraxia (DCD)
Movement without the shortcut.
The brain predicts movement less easily, so it corrects mid-reach using the eyes. It works. It costs effort.
Region · Prediction circuits · group average
Visual: the cerebellum and the top-back of the brain are lit, while a stream of dots loops between the back of the head, the top and the cerebellum.
Dyscalculia
Numbers without an instant sense of size.
An area at the top-back of the brain maps symbols onto quantity. In dyscalculia that signal tends to be fainter, and working memory carries more of the load.
Visual: a number line with columns of dots above it, growing from one dot to nine.
Tourette
An urge, then a gate.
Most tics follow an itch-like urge. Deep movement loops let the action through too easily. Many people build strong control strategies.
Region · Urge, prep and gate · group average
Visual: a deep central area, the top-middle and the side folds are lit, and dots rise from the urge area to the movement area.
Overlap
Labels overlap. People are spiky.
28–40% of autistic people also have ADHD; 25–40% of people with dyslexia or ADHD have both. High peaks and low dips often live in the same mind.
Visual: three overlapping circles of dots, each in a different colour.
Context
Same brain, different room.
38.6% → 28.4%
In a heavily decorated classroom, children were off-task 38.6% of the time. In a sparse one, 28.4%.
Visual: a grid of dots shaking restlessly.
Calm is a design decision.
A sensory-adapted dental room lowered children's anxiety and pain. Autistic employees with workplace adjustments were more likely to be in suitable work. Change the room, and the same brain does differently.
Visual: the same grid of dots, now still and evenly spaced.
Different, not broken. Disabled, sometimes. Mismatched, often.
Neurodiversity is a lens on human variation. It doesn't deny that difficulties are real, and some people need support around the clock. That's why we never say superpower.
Visual: the dots return to the brain shape and turn slowly.
The full atlas
Every region, strength and myth
The story is the short version. Here is everything we found, profile by profile, with sources.
Researched in October 2026 from peer-reviewed reviews, meta-analyses and consensus statements, with an independent fact-check. Education, not medical advice.