Stimulant medications such as methylphenidate were thought to improve attention by acting on the brain’s attention networks. However, in this groundbreaking study, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine found that stimulants were associated with changes in arousal and reward, but not attention. Utilizing resting-state fMRI data from students ages 8–11 years, they found that stimulants increased vigilance (action regions consistent with arousal) and perceived task value (salience regions consistent with reward) but had little direct effect on attention and control networks in the brain.
The researchers also found that stimulants mimic the effects of getting more sleep. Specifically, brain regions associated with arousal and wakefulness showed the strongest sleep-related connectivity differences. They found that children getting less sleep but taking a stimulant received grades that were significantly better than children getting less sleep and not taking a stimulant, and equal to the grades of well-rested children not taking a stimulant. They concluded that by mimicking the effects of sleep and reward expectation, stimulants boost arousal, motivation, and drive--all key factors influencing how well students perform on attention-demanding tasks.
StepUp Note
This research reminds us that arousal (awareness of how we feel) and reward (feeling of accomplishment) are very important components of learning. Arousal and reward keep us active and engaged in ways that help us learn and remember basic skills: reading, math facts and handwriting. StepUp to Learn uses rhythmic movement to create arousal, and “arms up” and puzzle badges to reward daily practice.
Note by Nancy W Rowe, MS, CCC/A