Methylphenidate does not affect convergent and divergent creative processes in healthy adults

NeuroImage

Nathalie Boot¹  Roshan Cools²  Carsten K.W. de Dreu³  Simon van Gaal³  Matthijs Baas³ 

[1] Corresponding author. University of Amsterdam, Department of Psychology, PO Box 15919, 1001, NK, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.;Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, And Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, the Netherlands;Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands;

关键词: Creativity;    Dopamine;    Flexibility;    Methylphenidate;    ADHD;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

An increasing number of healthy people use methylphenidate, a psychostimulant that increases dopamine and noradrenaline transmission in the brain, to help them focus over extended periods of time. While methylphenidate has been shown to facilitate some cognitive functions, like focus and distractor-resistance, the same drug might also contribute to cognitive impairment, for example, in creativity. In this study, we investigated whether acute administration of a low oral dose (20 mg) of methylphenidate affected convergent and divergent creative processes in a sample of young healthy participants. Also, we explored whether such effects depended on individual differences in ADHD symptoms and working memory capacity. Contrary to our expectations, methylphenidate did not affect participants’ creative performance on any of the tasks. Also, methylphenidate effects did not depend on individual differences in trait hyperactivity–impulsivity or baseline working memory capacity. Thus, although the effects of methylphenidate on creativity might be underestimated in our study due to several methodological factors, our findings do not suggest that methylphenidate impairs people’s ability to be creative.

【 授权许可】

Unknown