Hyperactivity, drugs and attention deficit
- 1 September 1984
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in British Journal of Clinical Psychology
- Vol. 23 (3) , 217-223
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8260.1984.tb00648.x
Abstract
Hyperactive children (32) who were under imipramine or methylphenidate medication took part in the experiment. The children learned a set of paired associate pictures containing a salient, central, figure and a secondary figure below. Free recall of all pictures was scored both immediately and 7 days later. The children were subdivided into 4 groups according to the classical state-dependent learning paradigm. Group 1 was withdrawn from medication on both trials, groups 2 and 3 were withdrawn from medication on the 1st or 2nd trial and group 4 received medication on both trials. No drug effects were found in immediate total recall. Delayed free recall was improved when original learning was under the drug state. This result was related to the proposal that arousing words are better remembered in delayed recall. Delayed recall of the secondary stimuli was particularly improved by the drugs during learning. Drug state dependency of the children''s memory was also shown.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- The effect of methylphenidate (Ritalin) on sustained attention in hyperactive childrenPsychopharmacology, 1972