Neurodivergence and Digital Work Environments: A Systems Theory Approach to the Development of Neuroadaptive Software

Abstract

AbstractDigitised work is organised around asynchronous communication, standardised software architectures, and animplicit model of a neurotypical user. For neurodivergent professionals — here discussed primarily through adultAttention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) — that model can produce cognitive friction that conventionalaccessibility guidelines only partly address. This concept paper proposes a systems-theoretical framing of thehuman–software relation and outlines a research programme for neuroadaptive software: interfaces that modulatecomplexity, interruption, and feedback in response to inferred cognitive state.The argument combines Luhmannian systems theory with cognitive ergonomics and physiological computing. Amultimodal sensing stack is sketched (electroencephalography, eye-tracking and pupillometry, electrodermalactivity, heart-rate variability, and interaction metrics) together with an adaptive frontend architecture. The paperdoes not report original empirical results. It specifies a proposed research design, reviews related work, discusseseconomic motives for inclusion, and sets ethical constraints — above all neuro-privacy, local processing, and userautonomy. The intended contribution is a coherent concept and a testable agenda, not a finished system.