A Study on the Effect of Methylphenidate on Creativity of Healthy Adults

NCT01683032 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: SHA -0011-12
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 38
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Creative cognition plays an important role in art, invention and innovation, as well as in everyday life and thus has a significant effect on society as a whole. Research with healthy, normal participants and those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder indicates a possible inverse relationship between attentional function and creativity. This evidence raises the possibility that Methylphenidate (MPH; Ritalin) could decrease creativity in people using it for cognitive enhancement. However, this question has not been addressed by previous studies. Hence, the present study aims to examine the effect of MPH on creativity in healthy young adults.

Conditions

MPH Influence on Creativity

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• The Alternate Uses Task

  This is a standard measure of divergent thinking, whose stimuli and responses are verbal. Subjects will be presented with a list of six common objects (shoe , can, stapler, tire, drinking glass, cardboard box) and will be asked to list as many alternate uses as possible for each object, within a ten minute time limit (the most common everyday use is indicated in parenthesis). Fluency, flexibility and originality will be scored. Original responses will be defined as statistically infrequent responses according to a pretest conducted in our lab

  30 min

Secondary Outcomes (6)

• Remote Associates Test (RAT)

  20 min

• The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART):

  10 min

• The Evaluation Task

  10 min

• Torrance Tests for Creative Thinking (TTCT):

  10 min

• Motivation from having an effect

  12 min

Other Outcomes (1)

• Raven Progressive Matrices Test Verbal fluency

  20 min

Study Arms (1)

Experimental: Healthy adults

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants, aged 21-40 years, will be recruited through an advertisement posted at the University of Haifa (including the website of Haifa University).

Drug: MPH

Interventions

MPH DRUG

a capsule containing 20 mg

Also known as: methylphenidate

Experimental: Healthy adults

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 21 Years - 40 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Participants, aged 21-40 years

You may not qualify if:

• People diagnosed with a psychiatric clinical disorder and /or taking psychotropic drugs (whether prescription drugs, herbal extracts or illegal drugs), which may impair their performance in tasks that are used in the study).
• People for whom there is a contra-indication for consuming Ritalin:
• People who are or were diagnosed with cardiac medical condition, hypertension, liver damage, glaucoma or neurologic disorders (e.g. epilepsy, CVA, parkinson's, Aneurism, brain SOL, MS).
• Pregnant or nursing women; female participants will be required to report whether they are pregnant, and in case they are, they will not participate.
• Reported use of drugs at the previous 30 days.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Shalvata Mental Health Center: lead

MeSH Terms

Interventions

5,10-dihydro-5-methylphenazine; Methylphenidate

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Phenylacetates; Acids, Carbocyclic; Carboxylic Acids; Organic Chemicals; Piperidines; Heterocyclic Compounds, 1-Ring; Heterocyclic Compounds

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: TRIPLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 26, 2012
• First Posted: September 11, 2012
• Study Start: October 1, 2012
• Primary Completion: May 1, 2013
• Study Completion: August 1, 2014
• Last Updated: November 19, 2014

Record last verified: 2014-11