Abstract
A double-blind experiment in a class of 57 medical students revealed a number of clear-cut effects of secobarbital upon psychomotor performance and other aspects of behavior. d-Amphetamine, at a dose well within the usual therapeutic range, had no detectable effects whatsoever.
In addition to yielding reliable data in a co-operative and sophisticated group of normal subjects, experiments of this kind serve as valuable teaching exercises by illustrating in the students themselves some of the complex effects of psychotropic drugs and some aspects of the experimental approach to their investigation. It is also suggested that the use of a whole class of medical students as subjects avoids some of the self-selection bias that inevitably results when a few volunteers are drawn from a very large population.
Footnotes
- Received January 5, 1960.
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