Hyperactivity, drugs and attention deficit.
Thirty-two hyperactive children who were under imipramine or methylphenidate medication took part in the experiment. The children were asked to learn a set of paired associate pictures containing a salient, central, figure and a secondary figure below. Free recall of all pictures was scored both immediately and seven days later. The children were subdivided into four groups according to the classical state-dependent learning paradigm. Group 1 was withdrawn from medication on both trials, groups 2 and 3 were withdrawn from medication on the first or second trial and group 4 received medication on both trials. No drug effects were found in immediate total recall. Delayed free recall was improved when original learning was under the drug state. This result was related to the proposal that arousing words are better remembered in delayed recall. Delayed recall of the secondary stimuli was particularly improved by the drugs during learning. Drug state dependency of the children's memory was also shown.
D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007099:Imipramine / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects; D008774:Methylphenidate / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013997:Time Factors
D008774:Methylphenidate; D007099:Imipramine