Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41390824›Full record

Trial reportNature communications2025

Methylphenidate reorganizes cortical hierarchy through dopaminergic modulation.

Dardo Tomasi, Peter Manza, Şükrü Barış Demiral, Weizheng Yan, Kylee B Miller, Faith Veenker, Joshua Zhao, Christina Lildharrie, Michele-Vera Yonga, Sarah Abey and 3 more

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. D2 autoreceptors gate vulnerability to cocaine use disorder.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Dardo TomasiNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. dardo.tomasi@nih.gov.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0183-5678
Peter ManzaNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0791-357X
Şükrü Barış DemiralNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5288-603X
Weizheng YanNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0885-5631
Kylee B MillerNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0007-7175-5776
Faith VeenkerNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Joshua ZhaoNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Christina LildharrieNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Michele-Vera YongaNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Sarah AbeyNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Michaelene VanDineNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Gene-Jack WangNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5017-9905
Nora D VolkowNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6668-0908

Funding

Neurobiology of Substance Abuse and AddictionZIAAA000550 · NIAAA · NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON ALCOHOL ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM · PI VOLKOW, NORA D. · 2009 to 2025
$115.1M
Intramural NIH HHS ZIA AA000550U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) ZIAAA000550
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Dopaminergic signaling shapes large-scale brain network architecture, constraining neural communication along a principal gradient that spans unimodal sensorimotor to transmodal association cortices. While more differentiated gradients are typically linked to enhanced cognition, it remains unclear whether dopamine-enhancing psychostimulants, such as methylphenidate (MP), amplify or compress this functional hierarchy to support attention. Across two double-blind, placebo-controlled studies in healthy adults (n = 38 and n = 20), we combined 60 mg oral MP with PET and fMRI to assess striatal dopamine function and cortical organization. MP consistently compressed the principal gradient, reducing segregation between sensory and association areas. The degree of compression predicted individual variation in striatal D1 and D2 receptor availability. MP-induced gradient compression in inferior parietal cortex tracked attention improvements. Critically, we validated key findings in a large, independent cohort from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study (n = 4,958). These results highlight a dopamine-sensitive mechanism linking cortical functional reorganization with cognitive performance.

Indexed as

Central Nervous System StimulantsCerebral CortexDopamineMethylphenidateAdolescentAdultAttentionBrainCognitionCorpus StriatumDouble-Blind MethodFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMalePositron-Emission TomographyCentral Nervous System StimulantsDopamineMethylphenidateReceptors, Dopamine D1Receptors, Dopamine D2

Identifiers

PMID41390824
PMCPMC12824357

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.