Dissociation of Learning on Stimulant-Drug Therapy

To the Editor: In addition to the observations of Safer, Allen and Barr¹ of suppression of normal growth in hyperactive children treated with the stimulant drugs dextroamphetamine and methylphenidate, as well as the reports of other undesirable consequences,² there is the possibility that such drug treatments will produce dissociated or state-dependent learning in these children. With complete dissociation of learning a person masters the required behavior in one drug state (which may be defined by the presence or absence of the drug) and subsequently exhibits that behavior only in the original drug state.³ It appears that the drug-produced cues present.