Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42299847›Full record

ArticleeLife2026

Methylphenidate enhances or impairs the cognitive control of Pavlovian bias depending on working memory capacity.

Dirk E M Geurts, Hanneke E M den Ouden, Jennifer C Swart, Monja I Froböse, Sean Fallon, Jennifer L Cook, Roshan Cools

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2026. 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. Article
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.

Dirk E M Geurts *Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2505-1301
Hanneke E M den Ouden *Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7039-5130
Jennifer C SwartDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0989-332X
Monja I FroböseBiological Psychology of Decision Making, Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Sean FallonSchool of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom.
Jennifer L CookDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4916-8667
Roshan Cools *Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8994-5534

Funding

European Research Council 10.3030/101054532European Research Council 10.3030/757583Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek 453.14.005Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek NWO 175.16.450Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek NWO 406.14.028Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek NWO 451.11.004ZonMw ZonMW 09032212110035
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Value-based decision making is regulated by a delicate interplay of instrumental and Pavlovian controllers. Here, we assessed the role of catecholamines in this interplay. We investigated the effects of the catecholamine reuptake inhibitor methylphenidate (MPH) in 100 healthy subjects using a combined appetitive and aversive Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigm, including approach and withdrawal actions. By administering the drug after learning, our design allowed us to establish that MPH can also bias action outside a learning context by directly modulating the interaction of Pavlovian cues with instrumental action. Previously we showed that the effect of MPH on bias varied across these individuals as a function of their working memory (WM) span capacity (Swart et al., 2017). Here, we show by assessing both approach and withdrawal actions that MPH enhanced not only the invigorating effect of appetitive cues on active approach but also the inhibitory effect of appetitive Pavlovian cues on active withdrawal and the invigorating effect of aversive cues on active withdrawal. Thus, in participants with high WM capacity, MPH boosted both approach and withdrawal PIT. Taken together, this pattern of effects is most consistent with the hypothesis that MPH modulates the

Indexed as

Central Nervous System StimulantsCognitionConditioning, ClassicalMemory, Short-TermMethylphenidateAdultCognitive EnhancementCuesFemaleHumansMaleYoung AdultCentral Nervous System StimulantsMethylphenidateapproach avoidancecatecholaminehumaninhibitionmethylphenidateneurosciencePavlovian biasPavlovian-to-instrumental transfer

Identifiers

PMID42299847
PMCPMC13271741

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Registered trials

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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.