MANIFEST ANXIETY, AMPHETAMINE, AND PERFORMANCE.

Abstract

Abstract : The major purpose of this research was to determine whether administration of amphetamine, a drug assumed to increase drive level, alters performance in ways consonant with drive theory. The results obtained support earlier findings that high the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (MAS) subjects perform better than low MAS subjects on noncompetitive paired-associates lists, whereas the low MAS subjects are superior on competitive lists. High MAS subjects tended to be superior on the simple and inferior on the difficult coding test, but these effects were not statistically significant. Amphetamine significantly improved performance on the noncompetitive paired-associates list and the simple coding test. The failure of amphetamine to produce a significant effect on either the competitive pairedassociates list or the difficult coding test does not support expectations based on drive theory, but does add to the accumulating evidence that relatively high level intellectual functions are not influenced by amphetamine. The significant improvement in performance on the pursuit rotor test, due to amphetamine, and the progressively greater discrepancy between amphetamine and placebo performance, over time, are both consistent with earlier literature.