Effects of Methylphenidate, Modafinil, and MDMA on Emotion-processing in Humans: A Pharmaco-fMRI Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate effects of methylphenidate, modafinil, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “Ecstasy”) on emotion-processing and cognitive performance using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques. The primary hypothesis is that these psychostimulants differentially affect processing of emotional stimuli and potentially leading to alterations in social cognition and behavior.

Topic Healthy Subjects
Compound Placebo MDMA
Country Switzerland
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Trial Details



Trial Number

Sponsors & Collaborators

University of Basel
The University of Basel Department of Biomedicine hosts the Liechti Lab research group, headed by Matthias Liechti.

Papers

MDMA-induced changes in within-network connectivity contradict the specificity of these alterations for the effects of serotonergic hallucinogens
This double-blind, placebo-controlled, fMRI study (n=45) found that MDMA induced similar (neuronal) changes as classical (serotonergic) psychedelics.

Direct comparison of the acute subjective, emotional, autonomic, and endocrine effects of MDMA, methylphenidate, and modafinil in healthy subjects
This placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over study (n=24) compared the acute autonomic, subjective, endocrine, and emotional effects of single doses of MDMA (125 mg), methylphenidate (60 mg), modafinil (600 mg) in healthy subjects using psychometric scales, the Facial Emotion Recognition Task (FERT), and the Sexual Arousal and Desire Inventory (SADI). It found that while all active drugs induced comparable hemodynamic and adverse effects, MDMA induced subjective, emotional, sexual, and endocrine effects that were distinctive from those of methylphenidate and modafinil with the doses used.

Acute effects of methylphenidate, modafinil and MDMA on negative emotion processing
This double-blind, placebo-controlled study (n=22) only used MDMA as a control condition and found that modafinil, although often used as a cognitive enhancer, may show some adverse effects regarding emotion processing.

Data attribution

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