Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39930713›Full record

Trial reportHuman psychopharmacology2025

Acute Administration of 10 mg Methylphenidate on Cognitive Performance and Visual Scanning in Healthy Adults: Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study.

Blair Aitken, Luke A Downey, Serah Rose, Brooke Manning, Thomas R Arkell, Brook Shiferaw, Amie C Hayley

Abstract readClinical Trial, Phase IIRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Human psychopharmacology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Blair AitkenCentre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia.
Luke A DowneyCentre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia.
Serah RoseCentre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia.
Brooke ManningCentre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia.
Thomas R ArkellCentre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia.
Brook ShiferawCentre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia.
Amie C HayleyCentre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-4470-4718

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo examine the effect of a low dose (10 mg) of methylphenidate on cognitive performance, visuospatial working memory (VSWM) and gaze behaviour capabilities in healthy adults.

methodsThis randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study examined the effects of 10 mg methylphenidate on cognitive performance, VSWM and gaze behaviour. Fixation duration and rate, gaze transition entropy, and stationary gaze entropy were used to quantify visual scanning efficiency in 25 healthy adults (36% female, mean ± SD age = 33.5 ± 7.8 years, BMI = 24.1 ± 2.9 kg/m

resultsMethylphenidate significantly enhanced performance in numeric working memory tasks, reflected by reduced errors and increased accuracy relative to placebo. No significant changes were observed in other cognitive or visual scanning metrics.

conclusionsA low dose of methylphenidate improves limited domains of psychomotor speed and accuracy but does not affect visual scanning efficiency. This suggests limited usefulness as a general pro-cognitive aid and raises the possibility of a lower threshold of effect for measurable psychostimulant-induced changes to visual scanning behaviour. Further research is needed to explore these potential dose-response relationships and effects across diverse populations.

trial registrationACTRN12620000499987.

Indexed as

Central Nervous System StimulantsCognitionMethylphenidatePsychomotor PerformanceAdultAttentionCross-Over StudiesDouble-Blind MethodFemaleHumansMaleMemory, Short-TermReaction TimeYoung AdultCentral Nervous System StimulantsMethylphenidate

Identifiers

PMID39930713
PMCPMC11811595

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

None linked

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.