SynthesisAddiction (Abingdon, England)2014
Efficacy of stimulants for cognitive enhancement in non-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder youth: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 3 of them syntheses 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
31 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 93 citations in OpenAlex.
- ADHD and Sex Hormones in Females: A Systematic Review.Journal of attention disorders · 2025Pooled it
- Amphetamines in child medicine: a review of ClinicalTrials.gov.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- Stimulant abuse as a coping strategy-Forensic and criminal consequences of stimulant abuse for neuroenhancement.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- The effects of methylphenidate and propranolol on the interplay between induced-anxiety and working memory.Psychopharmacology · 2016Trial
- Psychostimulant effects on motor and cognitive function in adults attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Content Analysis of the Portrayal of Prescription Stimulants on TikTok.Journal of attention disorders · 2025Article
- Time-on-task-related decrements in performance in the rodent continuous performance test are not caused by physical disengagement from the task.NPP - digital psychiatry and neuroscience · 2025Article
- Prescription Stimulant Medical and Nonmedical Use Among US Secondary School Students, 2005 to 2020.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Effect of atomoxetine on ADHD-pain hypersensitization comorbidity in 6-OHDA lesioned mice.Pharmacological reports : PR · 2023Article
- A multi-faceted role of dual-state dopamine signaling in working memory, attentional control, and intelligence.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2023Review
- Cognitive enhancing supplements and medications in United States Resident Physicians.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- Article
- Methylphenidate as a causal test of translational and basic neural coding hypotheses.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Lifetime evolution of ADHD treatment.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2021Review
- Neuroenhancement: State of the Art and Future Perspectives.Clinical neuropsychiatry · 2021Article
- Nonmedical Use of Prescription Stimulants Among US High School Students to Help Study: Results From a National Survey.Journal of pharmacy practice · 2020Article
- "The White Version of Cheating?" Ethical and Social Equity Concerns of Cognitive Enhancing Drug Users in Higher Education.Journal of academic ethics · 2019Article
- Prevalence of and factors associated with the use of methylphenidate for cognitive enhancement among university students.Einstein (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2019Article
- Placebo- and Nocebo-Effects in Cognitive Neuroenhancement: When Expectation Shapes Perception.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Article
- Methylphenidate promotes the interaction between motor cortex facilitation and attention in healthy adults: A combined study using event-related potentials and transcranial magnetic stimulation.Brain and behavior · 2018Article
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 at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsIncreasing prescription stimulant abuse among youth without diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is of concern. The most frequently cited motive for abuse is improved academic achievement via neurocognitive enhancement. Our aim in reviewing the literature was to identify neurocognitive effects of prescription stimulants in non-ADHD youth.
methodsA systematic review was conducted for youth aged 12–25 years using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Fourteen papers were included.
resultsModafinil appears to improve reaction time (P ≤ 0.04), logical reasoning (P ≤ 0.05) and problem-solving. Methylphenidate appears to improve performance in novel tasks and attention-based tasks (P ≤ 0.05), and reduces planning latency in more complex tasks (P ≤ 0.05). Amphetamine has been shown to improve consolidation of information (0.02 ≥ P ≤ 0.05), leading to improved recall. Across all three types of prescription stimulants, research shows improved attention with lack of consensus on whether these improvements are limited to simple versus complex tasks in varying youth populations.
conclusionsThe heterogeneity of the non-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder youth population, the variation in cognitive task characteristics and lack of replication of studies makes assessing the potential global neurocognitive benefits of stimulants among non-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder youth difficult; however, some youth may derive benefit in specific cognitive domains.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.