The paradoxical effect of central nervous system stimulants on hyperactivity: a paradox unexplained by the rate-dependent effect.

It has been proposed, most recently in an article by L. Green and D. Washauer entitled, "A note on the 'paradoxical' effect of stimulants on hyperactivity with reference to the rate-dependency effect of drugs" (J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 169: 196-198, 1981), that the rate-dependency effect of drugs explains the paradoxical reduction of motor activity by central nervous system stimulants administered to hyperactive children. Research indicates that the effects of these drugs on the behavior of animals or humans are not presently understood and that such proposals confuse an explanation with an empirical results.