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Ritalin

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Theory-Driven Approaches to Cognitive Enhancement

Abstract

Ritalin or methylphenidate, is an amphetamine drug type that is typically prescribed to individuals with ADHD to ameliorate their symptomatology. In recent years, the use of Ritalin among healthy adults to enhance cognitive functioning has been raising concerns regarding substance abuse. Ritalin administration increases levels of dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain with the potential of augmenting cognitive functioning, especially attention and cognitive control. Besides individuals with ADHD, the cognitive enhancing effects of Ritalin have been studied in both sleep-deprived and non-sleep-deprived individuals. In contrast to the animal literature, findings in healthy humans are mixed. In this chapter, we review if and under which conditions the administration of Ritalin might enhance cognition in both non-sleep-deprived and sleep-deprived healthy adults. In non-sleep-deprived adults, Ritalin appears, to some extent, to increase working memory especially in challenging conditions, but not inhibitory control or attentional processes. In sleep-deprived adults, Ritalin seems to restore reduced attention and vigilance performance, but at the possible costs of subjective overconfidence. However, more research is required as only few studies have addressed this latter topic. Future research is also necessary to fully understand the effects that this drug exerts at long-term use. Also considering its abuse liability and side effects, Ritalin seems to be only a limited tool for enhancing cognition in healthy individuals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cognitive Psychology Unit and Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Lorenza S. Colzato & Fréderique E. Arntz

  2. Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Lorenza S. Colzato

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  1. Lorenza S. Colzato
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  2. Fréderique E. Arntz
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Correspondence to Lorenza S. Colzato .

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Colzato, L.S., Arntz, F.E. (2017). Ritalin. In: Theory-Driven Approaches to Cognitive Enhancement. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57505-6_6

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