ArticleDementia & neuropsychologia
Methylphenidate as a cognitive enhancer in healthy young people.
Article in Dementia & neuropsychologia. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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
14 citing papers in PubMed, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of stimulant medication on neuropsychological functioning in college students without ADHD.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2026Trial
- Acute Administration of 10 mg Methylphenidate on Cognitive Performance and Visual Scanning in Healthy Adults: Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study.Human psychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- Linking human brain functional connectivity to underlying neurotransmission.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A Mini-review on Unlocking Cognitive Enhancement: An Innovative Strategy for Optimal Brain Functions.Central nervous system agents in medicinal chemistry · 2026Review
- Psychoactive substances: novel molecular insights and therapeutic potential for Alzheimer's disease.Translational neurodegeneration · 2025Review
- Maternal Separation Exhibits a Sex Dimorphism in Memory Impairments in Adolescent Rats: Acute Methylphenidate Administration as a Treatment.Birth defects research · 2025Article
- Seasonal trends in methylphenidate use: A mirror of misuse or compliance?The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2025Article
- Ginkgo Biloba as a niche theme cognitive enhancer agent, 1420 dokumen of Scopus database. A bibliometric study from 1988 to 2024.F1000Research · 2025Article
- Review
- Article
- The Use and Impact of Cognitive Enhancers among University Students: A Systematic Review.Brain sciences · 2021Review
- Mass Spectrometric Imaging of Plasma Membrane Lipid Alteration Correlated with Amperometrically Measured Activity-Dependent Plasticity in Exocytosis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Article
- Review
- Methylphenidate modifies activity in the prefrontal and parietal cortex accelerating the time judgment.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The so-called cognitive enhancers have been widely and increasingly used by healthy individuals who seek improvements in cognitive performance despite having no pathologies. One drug used for this purpose is methylphenidate, a first-line drug for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
objectiveThe aim of the present study was to test the effect of acute administration of varying doses of methylphenidate (10 mg, 20 mg, 40 mg and placebo) on a wide range of cognitive functions in healthy young people.
methodsA total of 36 young university students and graduates participated in the study. The participants underwent tests of attention and of episodic, and working memory.
resultsNo differences in performance were observed on any of the tests. There was a dose-dependent (40 mg > placebo) effect on self-reported wellbeing.
conclusionsAccording to the recent literature, psychostimulant medications, such as methylphenidate, improve performance when cognitive processes are below an optimal level, which was not the case for the subjects of the present study. We suggest the impression that methylphenidate enhances cognitive performance in healthy young people, justifying its use, may be due to improvements in subjective wellbeing promoted by the drug.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.