Neurocognitive, Autonomic, and Mood Effects of Adderall: A Pilot Study of

Healthy College Students

Authors:
Lisa L. Weyandt, Tara L. White, Bergljot Gyda Gudmundsdottir, Adam Z. Nitenson, Emma S.
Rathkey, Kelvin A. De Leon, and Stephanie A. Bjorn
Published: June 27, 2018
Submitted By: Lourdes Jane Songkip – Group 3 PSY 1203

Summary of the Study

Stimulant medications are commonly prescribed as treatment for Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as this type of medication is considered safe and a long-term
effective medication in order to reduce symptoms of ADHD. Stimulant drugs have been found
to improve the cognitive skills, self-regulation, and executive functioning of patients with ADHD.
However, many college students without ADHD have been misusing the stimulant drugs as
brain or cognitive enhancers, and this has become increasingly problematic in recent years.
Previous studies have revealed that the misuse of stimulant drugs as brain enhancers may not
actually lead to neurocognitive enhancement among non-ADHD users. This study conducted by
Weyandt et al. (2018) investigated the effects of Adderall, a stimulant drug that is a mixture of
two amphetamines, towards the healthy college students who are not diagnosed with ADHD or
prescribed to take the stimulant drugs. This study specifically explored the cognitive effects in
conjunction with mood, autonomic effects, and self-perceptions of Adderall in healthy college
students. In order to systematically obtain data, the researchers employed a double-blind,
placebo-controlled, within-subjects crossover design. In connection, the researchers
administered the experiment by giving 30 mg of Adderall and a placebo to the randomly
selected healthy college students, the data revealed major findings. First, there was a significant
drug-induced changes in activated emotions; students’ ratings of activated positive emotion
was higher compared to placebo. Second, the data revealed a significant main effect in the
autonomic activity. Adderall specifically increased heart rate, diastolic and systolic blood
pressure. Third, results showed that Adderall leads to reduced response variability, or in other
terms, there was an enhanced attention skill. Fourth, despite the enhanced attention among
the participants, Adderall also impaired working memory performance which worsened the
perception of the participants regarding their past cognitive and self-regulation executive
functioning in daily activities. Lastly, data revealed that Adderall neither improved nor impaired
oral and reading performance among the healthy college students. Overall, this study suggested
that Adderall does not result in robust neurocognitive enhancement benefits in healthy college
students.

Personal Insights

Taking in stimulant drugs as brain enhancers is not new to me; it has been a method
used by other student achievers in order to optimize their brain’s cognitive capacity. There
were also a lot of arguments which I have read that claims both the effectiveness and the side
effects of stimulant drugs as brain enhancers. Upon reading this well conducted research, I have
gathered new information regarding the possible benefits of taking in stimulant drugs
(Adderall), however it also made me realize that the benefits are not really notable compared
to the common expectations of the student users. Furthermore, this study revealed the effects
of Adderall towards increasing active positive emotions, hence, students may have experienced
optimism or energy to go about their days. In addition, there was also the increase of
autonomic activity which specifically mentioned the increase of heart rate and blood flow.
Therefore, Adderall stimulates and causes increased tension, worry, or nervousness towards a
person without ADHD. Moreover, increased heart rate and blood pressure is significantly linked
to heart problems. In terms of the effects of Adderall towards cognitive abilities, increased
attention was observed. In my opinion, this increase in attention span is expected since
Adderall is a stimulant drug which increase the activity of brain chemicals: dopamine and
norepinephrine. These brain chemicals are associated with alertness, attention and energy,
which explains why healthy college students in this study have reported improved attention
upon taking Adderall. However, overdosage of such stimulant drugs can cause psychosis, anger,
or paranoia. Furthermore, despite the benefits of Adderall in reducing error or variability in
student’s cognitive performance, it has also caused impairment in the working memory. Hence,
it is not sustainable and recommendable to take in stimulant drugs just for the sake of
enhancing cognitive abilities. Such drugs must be professionally prescribed before usage. It
does not necessarily imply that just because Adderall is effective in enhancing the cognitive
skills and executive functioning of ADHD patients, it means that it can already also produce the
same effect towards individuals who do not have ADHD or are particularly healthy.

In terms of the method used in the study, I believe that methods used in this study
reduced the possibility of a biased experiment since this study also incorporated double-blind
method. The researchers also controlled the possible extraneous variables by employing within-
subjects crossover design which allow the researchers to accurately test the effects of Adderall
by exposing the subjects within a sample to the same treatments.

Overall, the findings of this study are relevant to the contemporary set-up where people
always seek supplements or drugs that will help them boost their performance. Further
education regarding the right usage of drugs must be implemented in order to make the public
aware of the possible dangers of misusing certain drugs. However, this study also opens up for
more research opportunities relating to the investigation of using stimulant drugs as brain
enhancers; or it could also be an investigation related to the effects of various brain enhancers
that are actually available in the market.

Reference:

Weyandt, L., White, T., Gudmundsdottir, B., Nitenson, A., Rathkey, E., De Leon, K., & Bjorn, S.
(2018). Neurocognitive, Autonomic, and Mood Effects of Adderall: A Pilot Study of
Healthy College Students. Pharmacy, 6(3), 58. MDPI AG. Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy6030058