Methylphenidate increases willingness to perform effort in adults with ADHD.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav
; 183: 14-21, 2019 08.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31226260
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
A reduced willingness to perform effort based on the magnitude and probability of potential rewards has been associated with diminished dopamine function and may be relevant to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Here, we investigated the influence of ADHD status and methylphenidate on effort-based decisions. We hypothesized that ADHD participants would make fewer high-effort selections than non-ADHD subjects, and that methylphenidate would increase the number of high-effort selections. Furthermore, we hypothesized there would be associations among ADHD severity and methylphenidate-related changes in effort-based and attentional performance across all participants. METHODS ANDPARTICIPANTS:
ADHD (nâ¯=â¯23) and non-ADHD (nâ¯=â¯23) adults completed the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task in which participants select between low-effort and high-effort options to receive monetary rewards at varying levels of reward magnitude and probability. A test of attentional performance was also completed.RESULTS:
Overall, participants made more high-effort selections as potential reward magnitude and probability increased. ADHD participants did not make fewer high-effort selections than non-ADHD participants, but ADHD participants showed greater methylphenidate-related increases in high-effort selections. ADHD participants had worse attentional performance than non-ADHD participants. ADHD severity was associated with methylphenidate-related changes in high-effort selections, but not changes in attentional performance.CONCLUSIONS:
These results indicate that methylphenidate increases the willingness to perform effort in individuals with ADHD, possibly due to disorder-related motivational deficits. This provides support for theories of insufficient effort allocation among individuals with ADHD. TRIAL REGISTRATION Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier, NCT02630017.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Reward
/
Attention
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Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity
/
Central Nervous System Stimulants
/
Methylphenidate
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Pharmacol Biochem Behav
Year:
2019
Document type:
Article