Trial reportExperimental and clinical psychopharmacology2011
Expectation to receive methylphenidate enhances subjective arousal but not cognitive performance.
Trial report in Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Efficacy of stimulants for cognitive enhancement in non-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder youth: a systematic review.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2014Pooled it
- Beyond expectations: nocebo suggestion affects cognitive performance in older adults.Psychological research · 2026Trial
- To choose or not to choose: Examining the influence of choice on elicitation of subjective and objective prescription stimulant placebo effects in the laboratory.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2026Trial
- Expectancy for Adderall influences subjective mood and drug effects regardless of concurrent caffeine ingestion: A randomized controlled trial.Psychopharmacology · 2024Trial
- Challenging expectancies to prevent nonmedical prescription stimulant use: a randomized, controlled trial.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2013Trial
- Adjunctive methylphenidate extended release in patients with schizophrenia: Protocol of a single-centre fixed dose cross-over open-label trial to improve functional and cognitive outcomes.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2024Article
- Alpha/beta-gamma decoupling in methylphenidate medicated ADHD patients.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
- Unpacking placebo and working memory training effects on cognitive performance.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Placebo induced expectations of mood enhancement generate a positivity effect in emotional processing.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Predicting college student prescription stimulant misuse: An analysis from ecological momentary assessment.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2021Article
- Quantifying the Difference between Active and Passive Control Groups in Cognitive Interventions Using two Meta-Analytical Approaches.Journal of cognitive enhancement : towards the integration of theory and practice · 2020Article
- Nonmedical Use of Prescription Stimulants Among US High School Students to Help Study: Results From a National Survey.Journal of pharmacy practice · 2020Article
- Effects of Expectancy on Cognitive Performance, Mood, and Psychophysiology in Healthy Adolescents and Their Parents in an Experimental Study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
- Placebo- and Nocebo-Effects in Cognitive Neuroenhancement: When Expectation Shapes Perception.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Article
- Evidence for Cognitive Placebo and Nocebo Effects in Healthy Individuals.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Increased Excitability Induced in the Primary Motor Cortex by Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation.Frontiers in neurology · 2018Article
- The Role of Self-Transcendence and Cognitive Processes in the Response Expectancy Effect.Psychologica Belgica · 2017Article
- Do college students improve their grades by using prescription stimulants nonmedically?Addictive behaviors · 2017Article
- Methylphenidate Modulates Functional Network Connectivity to Enhance Attention.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2016Article
- Cognition and the Placebo Effect--Dissociating Subjective Perception and Actual Performance.PloS one · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Nonmedical use of prescription-stimulant medication such as methylphenidate (MPH) has increased among college students over the past several years. Common motivations for use include enhancements in cognition and subjective arousal. As it is unclear whether stimulant medication exerts the same effect on healthy individuals as for those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, it is possible that many reported effects of prescription stimulants by healthy individuals may stem from placebo effects, which may be an important mechanism underlying initiation and maintenance of nonmedical use. This study examined whether placebo effects influence reports of subjective mood and cognitive performance among college students who endorsed several risk factors for prescription-stimulant misuse (i.e., low grade point average, fraternity/sorority involvement, binge drinking, cannabis use). Ninety-six subjects (60% male) completed cognitive tests and questionnaires assessing present mood state on two occasions. Forty-seven participants were randomized to an experimental condition and orally ingested what they believed to be MPH, though actually placebo, on one visit and received no medication on the other visit. The control group received no medication on either visit. During the administration visit, experimental participants reported feeling significantly more high and stimulated compared with the nonadministration visit and to the control subjects. However, cognitive enhancement differences were not generally seen between visits or groups. This research demonstrates that placebo effects for prescription stimulants do influence subjective mood and may be implicated in nonmedical stimulant use. This knowledge may be useful in challenging prescription-stimulant-related expectancies to decrease the prevalence of use among college students.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.