Milich R, Carlson C L, Pelham W E, Licht B G
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506.
J Abnorm Child Psychol. 1991 Oct;19(5):519-36. doi: 10.1007/BF00925818.
We examined the effects of methylphenidate on the task persistence of 21 boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), after they had been exposed to both solvable and insolvable problems. The boys attempted to solve 10 different find-a-word puzzles on each of 4 days, involving the crossing of medication (placebo vs. 0.3 mg/kg) and prior task difficulty (solvable vs. insolvable). The results revealed that medication prevented the decrement in performance following the insolvable problems that was evident with the placebo days. In addition, on medication compared with placebo, the boys were more likely to make external attributions for failure and internal attributions for success. The results are discussed in terms of the impact of medication on ADHD boys' performance as mediated by cognitive-motivational state mechanisms.
