Nootropics & Other Cognitive Enhancement

• Caffeine: Perhaps the most used and old cognitive enhancer. Caffeine has an excitatory result in the brain, by partially disabling the process that signals low availability of energy. ¹². Caffeine and its metabolites also increase the serum concentration of adrenaline, thus increasing heart rate, blood pressure and stress ¹³. Many researchers have found a vast number of beneficial cognitive effects, as improved concentration and memory retention ¹⁴. Its beneficial effects on overall health are also documented ¹⁵. However, the American adult male's average dosage^{16 17} surpasses the healthy dosage fourfold. At the average ingested dosage, caffeine has strong detrimental health effects increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes ^{18 19} and also possess addiction potential, with severe withdrawal symptoms such as depression, irritability, pain and narcolepsy ²⁰.
• Modafinil: Modafinil effects are mediated through the neurotransmitters histamine and dopamine. Histamine regulates the state of wakefulness. Dopamine has important roles on motivation, cognition, reward, attention and working memory ²¹. There are at least 7 studies on the cognitive enhancement properties of modafinil in healthy individuals ^{22 23 24 25 26 27 28} <ref name"Gilleen"> GILLEEN, J., et al. (2014). "Modafinil combined with cognitive training is associated with improved learning in healthy volunteers--a randomised controlled trial." European Neuropsychopharmacology : The Journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 24(4), 529–39. doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2014.01.001. . Those studies' results are:
  • Increased new-language learning ²⁹
  • Enhanced performance on tests of digit span, visual pattern recognition memory, spatial planning and stop signal reaction time ²⁹³⁰.
  • Lower error rate in a visual spatial task³⁰³¹.
  • Improved fatigue levels, motivation, reaction time and vigilance³¹³².
  • Improvement on spatial working memory, planning and decision making at the most difficult levels, as well as visual pattern recognition memory following delay and subjective ratings of enjoyment of task performance ³²³³ .
  • Decreased impairment in vestibular function in 24h sleep deprived individuals³³³⁴.
  • Decreased impairment on performance in a flight simulation test in 30h and 40h sleep deprived individuals^{3435 3536}.
  • No adverse effects were reported in none of these studies, however this wasn't the target of any of them.

Many other studies in non-healthy patients have found some adverse effects³⁶³⁷, but have confirmed its safety and - so far - no addiction potential profile. However, research on its long-term safety is deeply needed.

• Aricept(Donepezil): Aricept inhibits the breakdown of acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter linked to long-term memory. There are at least two studies with healthy individuals that have found: greater retention of how to perform a set of complex tasks ³⁷³⁸ and increased visual and verbal long-term memory ³⁸³⁹.

• Statistical format: we do not update our beliefs correctly when presented with absolute probabilities (i.e.: 10%) - when the information is presented in terms of occurrences (i.e.: one person in ten) the belief update is much more close to bayesian

Nootropics(drugs/ (drugs/psychoactive substances) is a form of biologicalCognitive Enhancement, i.e., any modification in the biology of a person which increases their cognitive capacities ¹. Apart from drugs (nootropics), alternative biological cognitive enhancements include, possibly, magnetic stimulation. 

1. SAVULESCU, J. & MEULEN, Rudd ter (orgs.) (2011) "Enhancing Human Capacities". Wiley-Blackwell.
2. Jump up↑ KAPNER, E. (2003) "Recreational use of Ritalin on college campuses". InfoFactsResources – The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention. Available at: www.edc.org/hec/pubs/factsheets/ritalin.pdf (accessed 4 Jan 2006).
3. Jump up↑ TETER, C.J. et al. (2005). "Prevalence and motives for illicit use of prescription stimulants in an undergraduate student sample", J Am Coll Health 53 (2005).
4. ↑ ^{^Jump up to:4.0}0^ ^4.1 BOSTROM, NICK. (2008) "Three Ways to Advance Science" For Nature Podcast, 31 January 2008. Available at: http://www.nickbostrom.com/views/science.pdf
5. Jump up↑ SANDBERG, Anders & LIAO, S.M., (2008) "The Normativity of Memory Modification", Neuroethics (2008), (1 2) 85-99.
6. Jump up↑ SANBERG, Anders & SAVULESCU, Julian. (2008). "Neuroenhancement of Love and Marriage: The Chemicals Between Us." Neuroethics (2008) Vol. 1:31-44.
7. Jump up↑ BOSTROM, Nick & SAVULESCO, Julian. (orgs.), (2009) "Human Enhancement". Oxford University Press.
8. Jump up↑ BOSTROM, Nick & SANDBERG, Anders. (2006) "Converging Cognitive Enhancements", Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 1093.
9. Jump up↑ SANDBERG, Nick & SANDBERG, Anders. (2009) "The Wisdom of Nature: an Evolutionary Heuristic for Human Enhancement" in: BOSTROM, Nick & SAVULESCU, Julian(orgs.). Human Enhancement. Oxford University Press, EUA.
10. Jump up↑ BOSTROM, Nick & SANDBERG, Anders. (2009) "Cognitive Enhancement: Methods, Ethics, Regulatory Challenges", Science and Engineering Ethics, Vol. 15, No. 3.
11. ↑ ^{^Jump up to:11.0}0^ ^11.1 SQUIRE, Larry R. et al. (orgs.) (2008) "Fundamental Neuroscience." Academic Press. 3a edition.
12. Jump up↑ DEWS, P.B. (1984). "Caffeine: Perspectives from Recent Research." Berlin: Springer-Valerag
13. Jump up↑ BOLTON, Sanford (1981). "Caffeine: Psychological Effects, Use and Abuse". Orthomolecular Psychiatry 10 (3): 202–211.
14. Jump up↑ THOMPSON, Rebecca & KEENE, Karen (2004). "The pros and cons of caffeine". The Psychologist (The British Psychological Society) 17 (12): 698–701.
15. Jump up↑ NCDT (2011). Report of the 2011 National Coffee Drinking Trends (NCDT).
16. Jump up↑ ILLY, A. & VIVIANI, R. (1995) Espresso Coffee: The Chemistry of Quality. San Diego: Academic P.
17. Jump up↑ GREENBERG, J. A. Et al.(2007) "Caffeinated beverage intake and the risk of heart disease mortality in the elderly: a prospective analysis". Am J Clin Nutr 85 (2): 392–8.
18. Jump up↑ LESON. C. L. Et al. (1998) "Caffeine overdose in an adolescent male.". Journal of toxicology. Clinical toxicology Vol. 26 (5–6): 407–15.
19. JULIANO, Laura M. & GRIFFITHS, Roland R. (2004) "A critical review of caffeine withdrawal: empirical validation of symptoms and signs, incidence, severity, and associated features". Psychopharmacology 176 (1): 1–29.
20. ↑ ^{^Jump up to:20.0}0^ ^20.1 CAIDWELL, John A. et al. (1999) "The Effects of Modafinil on Aviator Performance During 40 Hours of Continuous Wakefulness: A UH-60 Helicopter Simulator Study." Army aeromedical research unit fort

BiologicalNootoropics (drugs/psychoactive substances) is a form of biological Cognitive Enhancement is, i.e., any modification in the biology of a person which increases histheir cognitive capacities ¹. These modifications can be done through the use ofApart from drugs (‘smart pills’) or(nootropics), alternative biological cognitive enhancements include, possibly, magnetic stimulation. 

Note: this wage was last updated in November, 2014, and was written by a single author. It does not reflect any consensus on LessWrong.

NootoropicsNootropics (drugs/psychoactive substances) is a form of biological Cognitive Enhancement, i.e., any modification in the biology of a person which increases their cognitive capacities ¹. Apart from drugs (nootropics), alternative biological cognitive enhancements include, possibly, magnetic stimulation. 

Note: this page was last updated in November, 2014, and was written by a single author. It does not reflect any consensus on LessWrong.

Currently, there are several drugs been used as cognitive enhancers by healthy individuals, e.g.: caffeine, ritalin, aderall, modafinil and Aricept. Academic research assessing the risks and benefits of these drugs in the healthy individual have began only began recently. In addition, the results of those researches are vastly ignored by most of the concerned population. Three of the most used, promising and known cognitive enhancement drugs are listed in more detail below:

Nootoropics (drugs/psychoactive substances) is a form of biological Cognitive Enhancement, i.e., any modification in the biology of a person which increases their cognitive capacities ¹. Apart from drugs (nootropics), alternative biological cognitive enhancements include, possibly, magnetic stimulation. 

Note: this wagepage was last updated in November, 2014, and was written by a single author. It does not reflect any consensus on LessWrong.

• Caffeine: Perhaps the most used and old cognitive enhancer. Caffeine has an excitatory result in the brain, by partially disabling the process that signals low availability of energy. ¹². Caffeine and its metabolites also increase the serum concentration of adrenaline, thus increasing heart rate, blood pressure and stress ¹³. Many researchers have found a vast number of beneficial cognitive effects, as improved concentration and memory retention ¹⁴. Its beneficial effects on overall health are also documented ¹⁵. However, the American adult male's average dosage^{16 17} surpasses the healthy dosage fourfold. At the average ingested dosage, caffeine has strong detrimental health effects increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes ^{18 19} and also possess addiction potential, with severe withdrawal symptoms such as depression, irritability, pain and narcolepsy ²⁰.
• Modafinil: Modafinil effects are mediated through the neurotransmitters histamine and dopamine. Histamine regulates the state of wakefulness. Dopamine has important roles on motivation, cognition, reward, attention and working memory ²¹. There are at least 7 studies on the cognitive enhancement properties of modafinil in healthy individuals ^{22 23 24 25 26 27 28} <ref name"Gilleen"> GILLEEN, J., et al. (2014). "Modafinil combined with cognitive training is associated with improved learning in healthy volunteers--a randomised controlled trial." European Neuropsychopharmacology : The Journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 24(4), 529–39. doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2014.01.001²⁹. . Those studies' results are:
  • Increased new-language learning ²⁹³⁰
  • Enhanced performance on tests of digit span, visual pattern recognition memory, spatial planning and stop signal reaction time ³⁰³¹.
  • Lower error rate in a visual spatial task³¹³².
  • Improved fatigue levels, motivation, reaction time and vigilance³²³³.
  • Improvement on spatial working memory, planning and decision making at the most difficult levels, as well as visual pattern recognition memory following delay and subjective ratings of enjoyment of task performance ³³³⁴ .
  • Decreased impairment in vestibular function in 24h sleep deprived individuals³⁴³⁵.
  • Decreased impairment on performance in a flight simulation test in 30h and 40h sleep deprived individuals^{3536 3637}.
  • No adverse effects were reported in none of these studies, however this wasn't the target of any of them.

Many other studies in non-healthy patients have found some adverse effects³⁷³⁸, but have confirmed its safety and - so far - no addiction potential profile. However, research on its long-term safety is deeply needed.

• Aricept(Donepezil): Aricept inhibits the breakdown of acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter linked to long-term memory. There are at least two studies with healthy individuals that have found: greater retention of how to perform a set of complex tasks ³⁸³⁹ and increased visual and verbal long-term memory ³⁹⁴⁰.

• Statistical format: we do not update our beliefs correctly when presented with absolute probabilities (i.e.: 10%) - when the information is presented in terms of occurrences (i.e.: one person in ten) the belief update is much more close to bayesian

Currently, there are several drugs been used as cognitive enhancers by healthy individuals, e.g.: caffeine, ritalin, aderall, modafinil and Aricept. Academic research accessingassessing the risks and benefits of these drugs in the healthy individual have only began recently. In addition, the results of those researches are vastly ignored by most of the concerned population. Three of the most used, promising and known cognitive enhancement drugs are listed in more detail below:

• Caffeine: Perhaps the most used and old cognitive enhancer. Caffeine has an excitatory result in the brain, by partially disabling the process of signalingthat signals low availability of energy. ¹². Caffeine and its metabolites also increase the serum concentration of adrenaline, thus increasing hearheart rate, blood pressure and stress ¹³. Many researchers have found a vast number of beneficial cognitive effects, as improved concentration and memory retention ¹⁴. Its beneficial effects on generaloverall health are also documented ¹⁵. However, average medium dosages of anthe American adult male male's average dosage^{16 17} surpasses the healthy dosage fourfold. At the average ingested dosage, caffeine has strong detrimental health effects: increase riskseffects increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes ^{18 19} and also possess addiction potential, with severe withdrawal symptoms:symptoms such as depression, irritability, pain and narcolepsy ²⁰.
• Modafinil: Modafinil effects are mediated troughthrough the neurotransmitters histamine and dopamine. Histamine regulates the state of wakefulness. Dopamine has important roles inon motivation, cognition, reward, attention and working memory ²¹. There are at least 7 studies on the cognitive enhancement properties of modafinil in healthy individuals ^{22 23 24 25 26 27 28}. Those studies' results were:are:
  • Enhanced performance on tests of digit span, visual pattern recognition memory, spatial planning and stop signal reaction time ²⁹.
  • Lower error rate in a visual spatial task³⁰.
  • Improved fatigue levels, motivation, reaction time and vigilance³¹.
  • Improvement on spatial working memory, planning and decision making at the most difficult levels, as well as visual pattern recognition memory following delay and subjective ratings of enjoyment of task performance ³² .
  • Decreased impairment in vestibular function in 24h sleep deprived individuals³³.
  • Decreased impairment on performance in a flight simulation test in 30h and 40h sleep deprived individuals^{34 35}.
  • No adverse effects were reported in none of these studies, however this wasn't the target of any of them.

• Caffeine: Perhaps the most used and old cognitive enhancer. Caffeine has an excitatory result in the brain, by partially disabling the process of signaling low availability of energy. ¹². Caffeine and its metabolites also increase the serum concentration of adrenaline, increasing hear rate, blood pressure and stress ¹³. Many researchers have found a vast number of beneficial cognitive effects, as improved concentration and memory retention ¹⁴. Its beneficial effects on general health are also documented ¹⁵. However, average medium dosages of an American adult male ^{16 17} surpasses the healthy dosage fourfold. At the averagedaverage ingested dosage, caffeine havehas strong detrimental health effects: increase risks of heart attacks and strokes ^{18 19} and addiction potential, with severe withdrawal symptoms: depression, irritability, pain and narcolepsy ²⁰.
• Modafinil: Modafinil effects are mediated trough neurotransmitters histamine and dopamine. Histamine regulates the state of wakefulness. Dopamine has important roles in motivation, cognition, reward, attention and working memory ²¹. There are at least 7 studies on the cognitive enhancement properties of modafinil in healthy individuals ^{22 23 24 25 26 27 28}. Those studies' results were:
  • Enhanced performance on tests of digit span, visual pattern recognition memory, spatial planning and stop signal reaction time ²⁹.
  • Lower error rate in a visual spatial task³⁰.
  • Improved fatigue levels, motivation, reaction time and vigilance³¹.
  • Improvement on spatial working memory, planning and decision making at the most difficult levels, as well as visual pattern recognition memory following delay and subjective ratings of enjoyment of task performance ³² .
  • Decreased impairment in vestibular function in 24h sleep deprived individuals³³.
  • Decreased impairment on performance in a flight simulation test in 30h and 40h sleep deprived individuals^{34 35}.
  • No adverse effects were reported in none of these studies, however this wasn't the target of any of them.