The effect of methylphenidate on sensory perception in varying degrees of hyperkinetic behaviour.

In a double-blind study of methylphenidate, hyperkinetic children of varying levels of age and degree of hyperactivity were assessed on subtests of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Ability (ITPA). The ITPA was supplemented with a combination of monosensory, bisensory, and trisensory stimuli presentations. Methylphenidate improved the ITPA's visual, auditory and tactile age scores of children who exhibited a more marked degree of hyperkinetic behaviour. That improvement was also observed in the recognition of sensory stimuli presented in a monosensory fashion. Similarly, the children with a more marked degree of hyperkinesis improved their stimuli recognition rate significantly on methylphenidate when stimuli were presented to bisensory and trisensory perceptual modalities simultaneously. It was concluded that drug improvement on sensory perception seemed to be more related to the degree of hyperkinetic behavior manifested than to chronological age. Further research of degree of hyperkinesis, age-level, sensory modality and drug administration was suggested.