Trial reportPsychopharmacology2026
Methylphenidate (Ritalin) does not improve exam performance in an experimental setting.
Trial report in Psychopharmacology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleSurveys indicate that about 10-20% of students use medicinal drugs to improve their exam performance. Whether these drugs really improve exam performance has not been examined in an experimental setting yet. This study tested the effects of methylphenidate (MPH; 20 mg) on exam performance either by giving the drug before studying for an exam (day 1, acquiring new information) or before the exam was taken (day 2, retrieving the information).
methodFor this study, a double-blind placebo controlled between-subjects design was applied. The participants were randomly assigned to three groups that were given treatment on the two days: Placebo-Placebo (n = 25), MPH (n = 24), Placebo-MPH (n = 26). The exam contained multiple-choice questions (factual knowledge and inference questions) and open questions (inference).
resultsThe data showed that MPH did not improve the exam performance on the three types of questions. In addition, the average grade did not differ between the three groups and the number of participants failing or passing the exam did not differ.
conclusionThis is a first experimental study showing that MPH does not improve exam performance and should discourage students to take MPH during exam periods.
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Registered trials
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