Funded in part by Volkswagen Foundation
Cognitive enhancement effects of stimulants: a randomized controlled trial testing methylphenidate, modafinil, and caffeine
Repantis D, Bovy L, Ohla K, Kühn S, Dresler M
Psychopharmacology · 41 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Randomized controlled trial (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Industry funded
- Government
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Company
- Volkswagen Foundation
- Nonprofit
- Jacobs Foundation
- Government
- H2020 European Research Council
- Government
- European Research Council
- Grants
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB936/C7); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 936); H2020 European Research Council (ERC-2016-StG-Self-Control-677804); Jacobs Foundation (SFB 936/C7); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG KU 3322/1-1); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (KU 3322/1–1); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (936/C7); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (3322/1-1); Volkswagen Foundation (85648); Jacobs Foundation (JRF 2016–2018)
Based on 5 listed funder(s) and full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2020-11-17 · Psychopharmacology (Berl) · vol. 238 · issue 2 · pp. 441–451
- Publisher
- Springer Science+Business Media
- Cited
- 66 citations · more than 93% of similar papers · 3.2× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 50 works
- Access
- Open access (hybrid journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder · Forensic Toxicology and Drug Analysis
- Keywords
- Modafinil, Methylphenidate, Caffeine, Randomized controlled trial, Psychology, Pharmacology, Cognition, Psychiatry, Medicine, Clinical psychology, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Internal medicine
- MeSH
- humans, fatigue, methylphenidate, caffeine, central nervous system stimulants, nootropic agents, treatment outcome, pilot projects, double-blind method, cognition, attention, adult, male, young adult, modafinil
5 authors
From DE, NL
- Dimitris Repantis · correspondingHumboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Max Planck Institute for Human Development; Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin; Freie Universität Berlin; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- Leonore BovyRadboud University Nijmegen; Radboud University Medical Center; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour
- Kathrin OhlaForschungszentrum Jülich
- Simone KühnUniversität Hamburg; University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf; Max Planck Institute for Human Development
- Martin DreslerRadboud University Nijmegen; Radboud University Medical Center; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour
Abstract
Rational
At 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.
Objectives
There 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.
Methods
We 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.
Results
Our 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.
Conclusions
The 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.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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