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Effortful attention and will power require considerable regulatory control; overexertion results in fatigue and depletion of these capacities. Stimulants such as methylphenidate, a catecholamine reuptake blocker that increases synaptic norepinephrine and dopamine, might enhance regulatory control of attention. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, researchers examined the effects of methylphenidate on controlling sustained attention in 108 healthy individuals, mostly university students and faculty (mean age, 22.5).
Participants were administered methylphenidate or placebo 60 minutes before testing, which involved two sets of computer tasks. The first one consisted of either an uncomplicated attention task (responding whenever a flash…