Double‑blind, randomised, placebo‑controlled crossover study (n=12) testing a single oral 75 mg dose of MDMA versus placebo on prospective and verbal memory in recreational MDMA users.
This double‑blind, placebo‑controlled crossover study assessed the acute effects of a single 75 mg oral dose of MDMA on prospective and verbal memory during fMRI.
Twelve recreational MDMA users completed MDMA and placebo sessions with behavioural memory tasks and BOLD fMRI measured between 1.5 and 2.5 hours post‑dose to identify neural correlates of memory impairment.
Primary outcomes were prospective and verbal memory performance and related BOLD responses; secondary outcomes included reaction time and number of correct responses.
Single oral MDMA 75 mg session (crossover design).
fMRI assessments 1.5–2.5 hours post-dose
Matching placebo tablet (crossover).
Matching placebo
This re-analysis of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover-design study (n=18) compared the effects of MDMA (75mg) and Ritalin (20mg) concerning spatial memory performance. Results indicated that a single dose of MDMA caused subjects to perform worse on a simple spatial memory task only during acute intoxication. It did not affect their ability to detect rapid contextual changes in visuospatial information relevant to traffic safety.