Journal Article

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

Boot, Nathalie, Cools, Roshan, Baas, Matthijs, de Dreu, Carsten K.W., van Gaal, Simon

2020

Overview

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. •Methylphenidate effects on convergent and divergent creativity were studied.•Methylphenidate did not affect performance on any of the creativity tasks.•Effects did not depend on individual differences in hyperactivity–impulsivity.•Effects did not depend on individual differences in working memory capacity.•Findings do not suggest that methylphenidate impairs people’s creative ability.

• Publisher: Elsevier Inc,Elsevier Limited,Elsevier
• Subject: ADHD / Adult / Alcohol / Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - physiopathology / Blood pressure / Brain research / Central Nervous System Stimulants - administration & dosage / Central Nervous System Stimulants - adverse effects / Central Nervous System Stimulants - pharmacology / Cognition & reasoning / Cognitive ability / Creativity / Dopamine / Drugs / Female / Flexibility / Humans / Hyperactivity / Impulsive behavior / Impulsive Behavior - physiology / Impulsivity / Male / Memory / Memory, Short-Term - physiology / Methylphenidate / Methylphenidate - administration & dosage / Methylphenidate - adverse effects / Methylphenidate - pharmacology / Norepinephrine / Personality - physiology / Short term memory / Stimulants / Thinking - drug effects / Variables / Young Adult