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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2024 Nov;38(11):998-1006.
doi: 10.1177/02698811241286715. Epub 2024 Oct 11.

Driving performance and ocular activity following acute administration of 10 mg methylphenidate: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

Blair Aitken  1 , Luke A Downey  1   2 , Serah Rose  1 , Thomas R Arkell  1 , Brook Shiferaw  1   3 , Amie C Hayley  1   2
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Driving performance and ocular activity following acute administration of 10 mg methylphenidate: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

Blair Aitken et al. J Psychopharmacol. 2024 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Methylphenidate is a routinely prescribed treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder with misuse potential owing to its perceived performance-enhancing and euphoric properties. Although clinically effective, there is limited understanding of how methylphenidate affects safety-sensitive tasks such as driving when used by healthy individuals.

Aim: Explore the acute effects of 10 mg methylphenidate on driving performance and gaze behaviour.

Methods: Twenty-five fully licensed, healthy adults (mean age = 33.5 ± 7.8 years, 64% male) took part in two 40-min simulated highway drives with simultaneous eye movements monitored using a proprietary automotive-grade driver monitoring system (Seeing Machines). Driving performance was assessed using the standard deviation of lateral position, standard deviation of speed and steering variability. Visual scanning efficiency was determined using ocular metrics, such as fixation duration and rate, gaze transition entropy, and stationary gaze entropy, were assessed to determine visual scanning efficiency.

Results: Methylphenidate significantly improved driving performance by reducing lane weaving and speed variation, particularly in the latter half of the drive. Although a significant reduction in fixation duration was observed, all other ocular metrics remained unchanged.

Conclusions: Methylphenidate mitigates performance decrements typically associated with prolonged and monotonous driving. The absence of pronounced oculomotor effects suggests that a single 10 mg dose of methylphenidate has no deleterious impact on visual scanning behaviour during driving tasks with low-to-moderate cognitive demand. Future research should investigate the effects of methylphenidate under various dosing and driving conditions to better understand its impact.

Trial registration: ACTRN12620000499987.

Keywords: Methylphenidate; driving performance; ocular monitoring; psychostimulants; road safety.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: ACH is supported by a Rebecca L Cooper Al and Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship (GNT: F2021894) and held an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (GNT: 1119960). LAD received a R.D Wright Career Development Fellowship with no conflicts of interest. BA, SR, and TRA declare no conflicts of interest. BS is employed by Seeing Machines without conflicts of interest related to this publication or any financial support that could affect its outcome.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Overview of testing day procedures. Each block represents a 10-min interval. *Tasks whose results are not reported in this article.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
CONSORT diagram illustrating the flow of participant recruitment.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Mean values for standard deviation of lateral position (SDLP), standard deviation of speed (SDS) and steering variability (SV) across treatments (placebo and methylphenidate) at varying time points (10, 20, 30 and 40 min). Error bars represent ± standard error of the mean (SEM). The asterisk (*) symbol indicates statistical significance between conditions, with *p = 0.05. The hash symbol (#) denotes differences across time points, with ###p = 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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