Trial reportPsychopharmacology2021
Cognitive enhancement effects of stimulants: a randomized controlled trial testing methylphenidate, modafinil, and caffeine.
Trial report in Psychopharmacology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 2 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
29 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 62 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sleep disorders in Parkinson's disease: evaluating pharmacological treatments through systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Stimulant abuse as a coping strategy-Forensic and criminal consequences of stimulant abuse for neuroenhancement.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- 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
- Methylphenidate differentially alters corticostriatal connectivity after traumatic brain injury.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2025Trial
- Effects of different doses of caffeine on cognitive performance in healthy physically active individuals.European journal of nutrition · 2024Trial
- Cognitive enhancement: Effects of methylphenidate, modafinil, and caffeine on latent memory and resting state functional connectivity in healthy adults.Human brain mapping · 2022Trial
- Alterations in the hepatic drug-metabolizing enzyme network of mice induced by +Gz exposure and its impact on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of modafinil.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- The intervention effect of caffeine oral tablets on mental fatigue induced by nap deprivation: based on assessments of heart rate variability, cognitive performance and subjective fatigue-a pilot study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Methylphenidate as a Novel Adjunct in Opioid-Taking Patients: Insights into Dopaminergic Neuroadaptation and Hypoactive Delirium.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- SCH58261 effectively prevents the reduction in excitability of striatal MSNs in mice following 20 h of sleep deprivation.Purinergic signalling · 2025Article
- Exploring the impact of coffee consumption and caffeine intake on cognitive performance in older adults: a comprehensive analysis using NHANES data and gene correlation analysis.Nutrition journal · 2025Article
- Review
- Multidisciplinary cognitive performance optimization for mission-critical decision makers: delivering "the whole pizza".Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Understanding vigilance and its decrement: theoretical, contextual, and neural insights.Frontiers in cognition · 2025Review
- Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancement Among International Medical Students: Assessing Study Habits as a Novel Factor.Medical science educator · 2024Article
- A dataset for fatigue estimation during shoulder internal and external rotation movements using wearables.Scientific data · 2024Article
- Armodafinil as a Potential Pharmacological Treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults: A Review.Current neuropharmacology · 2024Review
- Effects of Caffeine on Main Symptoms in Children with ADHD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials.Brain sciences · 2023Review
- Do Medical Universities Students Use Cognitive Enhancers while Learning?-Conclusions from the Study in Poland.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- An Exploratory Study about the Characterization of Caffeine Consumption in a Portuguese Sample.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
rationalAt all times humans have made attempts to improve their cognitive abilities by different means, among others, with the use of stimulants. Widely available stimulants such as caffeine, but also prescription substances such as methylphenidate and modafinil, are being used by healthy individuals to enhance cognitive performance.
objectivesThere is a lack of knowledge on the effects of prescription stimulants when taken by healthy individuals (as compared with patients) and especially on the effects of different substances across different cognitive domains.
methodsWe conducted a pilot study with three arms in which male participants received placebo and one of three stimulants (caffeine, methylphenidate, modafinil) and assessed cognitive performance with a test battery that captures various cognitive domains.
resultsOur study showed some moderate effects of the three stimulants tested. Methylphenidate had positive effects on self-reported fatigue as well as on declarative memory 24 hours after learning; caffeine had a positive effect on sustained attention; there was no significant effect of modafinil in any of the instruments of our test battery. All stimulants were well tolerated, and no trade-off negative effects on other cognitive domains were found.
conclusionsThe few observed significant positive effects of the tested stimulants were domain-specific and of rather low magnitude. The results can inform the use of stimulants for cognitive enhancement purposes as well as direct further research to investigate the effects of stimulants on specific cognitive domains that seem most promising, possibly by using tasks that are more demanding.
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.