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Cognition Enhancer Research
oschobero writes to tell us the Economist has a look at pharmaceutical research as it applies to cognition enhancers. While the research is obviously focused on things like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and schizophrenia, the resulting drugs may also have a benefit to healthy minds. "Provigil and Ritalin really do enhance cognition in healthy people. Provigil, for example, adds the ability to remember an extra digit or so to an individual's working memory (most people can hold seven random digits in their memory, but have difficulty with eight). It also improves people's performance in tests of their ability to plan. Because of such positive effects on normal people, says the report, there is growing use of these drugs to stave off fatigue, help shift-workers, boost exam performance and aid recovery from the effects of long-distance flights."
Taking speed is EEEEEEEEvil, unless it makes more money for Big Pharma.
By binding to certain glutamate receptors, D-cycloserine selectively enhances extinction, suppressing the effects of conditioned associations such as anxiety, addiction and phobias. According to Dr Robbins, experiments have shown that if a rat is given a cue that it previously associated with fear at the same time as it receives D-cycloserine, the bad memory can be eliminated. Not only may this help remove unpleasant memories... Does this mean that people might be able to unsee things *coughgoatsecough*
I've taking Provigil. It's an amazing and weird drug.
On the one hand, It helps endlessly with functioning while sleepy. As a chronic insomniac, I'm never THAT awake, but after two hours of sleep and a provigil, I'm awake enough to drive and take exams. It doesn't even keep you up after it wears off, something every other sleep aid or wake aid I've ever taken does. It avoids the problem of body/mind disconnect, you're AWAKE, not brain awake/body tired or body awake/brain sleepy.
On the other, it has an effect I can only describe as "positional". You can still tell that you're tired, but you only feel it in one part of your head, kinda towards the lower-right-back area. And yes, that's insane.
What's weirder is that if you get a headache while on provigil, you'll feel it in that area too. It's kinda like it's turned off your brain's natural "error reporting" that tells you you're tired/headachey, but it doesn't do it for the whole brain.
I also had some nasty experiences in the bathroom while on it. That's definitely a downside. (Wee, rather than being late for class because I can't wake up I'm late for class because I'm stuck in the bathroom)
I only used it for about two weeks (despite the above praise, it didn't help with my main problem), but I'd definitely use it again if I had the chance. There's enough times where I've not gotten enough sleep for one reason or another but I really have to be at work the next day that it'd be quite handy to have around.
I respond to your sigs
I've used it before and it increased cognition considerably, especially when I was tired and figured I'd have a wasteful night of studying. If I have less than 8 hours sleep, I have difficulty focusing on a single source at one time, and studying is impossible. Ritalin has helped me micro-focus, and not just cram for exams but actually learn topics. If I had a steady source of Ritalin, or a doctor that 'played ball', I might consider experimenting with it more often.
Being a physicist, I've got an excuse for being absent minded, but keeping SEVEN DIGITS in your working memory? Holy crap. I'm lucky if I can cram four of them in there.
Seriously, it's an issue with me and older telephones -- I can punch three numbers, then I have to look on the number I'm calling to get the next batch, and by the time I've got it, the phone is already dialing.
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
as much as scientist claim they can enhance or reduce certain abilities, it is also a reality science is just beginning to understand human metabolism.
We don't know much about how each part the human metabolism affect the others, so it's very difficult to anticipate possible side effects.
It's also widely known that many of the current drugs where discovered by accident while trying to cure something else (like the discovery of viagra, and the heart benefits obtained from aspirin). So, as much as we don't want see it, our scientist can be wrong.
Let's hope we don't see our Universities bloated with new kind of "brain enhancement" drugs.
- Human knowledge belongs to the world
Now the competitors in the national spelling bee tournaments will have to rake a piss test.
What?
Based on what findings is it stated that most people can only hold 7 digits in memory?
I wonder if there is a connection to how many digit you need to make a local phone call.
In the states I assume you can or could leave out the area code, and then needed to remember xxx-xxxx.
In Denmark as a kid and now, we need to remember 8 digits to make a phone call.
I see a correlation, but.. heck, digits for thoughts.
I think religious people might metaphysically have a hard time with this because this goes against the whole "Garden Of Eden" model of health which is Humans were made perfectly and they fell from perfection when they got curious and ate the special apple hoping for some sort of benefit. Only disease is allowed to be treated in order to restore the system to what god intended.
So you can't get a prescription for viagra because you want to have loads of sex, you can only get it for treating the dreaded disease known as "Erectile dysfunction".
Yup, won't be longer before passing a drug test for employment means your results have to come back positive.
Enhanced my cognition right into the homeless shelter. Now I'm a homeless genius and use the computer at the library to control vast bot nets. Eventually I will rule the world.
What is the long-term (or even all of the short-term) effects of this? IIRC, Ritalin comes with a bucketload of side effects.
I guess that drugs specifically made for the mind start (at least for me) creeping deeper and deeper into questions of morality and ethics than one designed to treat any other body part. Just something that makes me a bit wary about them... For instance, is an "enhanced" person more susceptible to suggestion than otherwise? Are they more focused on the task at hand, but not as aware of their surroundings? How does it affect multitasking? Emotions? Attitude and outlook?
Dunno... but caffeine seems to work just fine for me, and I get to keep a clear mind which I retain full control of while I'm at it.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed,
the lips acquire stains.
The stains become a warning.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
These drugs would be immensely beneficial to the human race. And what sane person wouldn't want to be smarter? Unfortunately, they will be opposed by very powerful religious and conservative forces. it will probably devolve into a cyclic, pointless, and unyielding debate like the one about abortion.
:(
Caffeine is one of these substances; probably the most widely available, too. Personally I can think faster, clearer, and longer with about 300mg of caffeine in me. Unfortunately, I'm getting tolerant to it now...
Regardless, these drugs have the possibility to change the world. Hopefully people will get these things on the market in time for my SATs!
Usually a placebo does have some minor effect, so I wouldn't be surprised to see an improvement in performance on the same order.
What happens to your cognition once you stop taking it, after you've gotten used to taking it? Do you get a tolerance, so you not only need higher doses for a smarts boost, but you also just return to your base performance after getting used to it?
What's the withdrawal like?
I suspect that maybe the many kids given Ritalin while growing up learn to depend on it for their baseline. When they outgrow their "hyperactivity" (AKA "childhood"), they quit the drugs, and sink into an unfamiliar dullness in which they can't think at their previous baseline without the artificial stimulation. And how much do they just get burned out from the steady drugging?
Something's got to explain the evident steady decay in average intellect as the years wear on, despite these synthetic boosts.
--
make install -not war
To first address the comments regarding number of digits in working memory: the "magic number" is 7 plus or minus 2, the variance being context dependent. To hold more items in memory, which people obviously do, they employ "chunking", or grouping them together and remembering the chunks in the necessary sequence. The 7 digit phone number was based on the original 7 digit idea, the grouping of area code XXX, prefix YYY, and last 4 ZZZZ was based on chunking. Since this chunking is a major action of attention and memory, simply adding a single digit to a single chunk is a weird way to claim improvement.
Yet once again an article on cognition enhancement fails to note its origins and long standing history. The first nootropic, hydergine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydergine , was developed by Albert Hoffmann of Sandoz. While he is best known for LSD, his "problem child", he considered hydergine to be his most important discovery. He credited his longentivity (he died recently at age 102) to using hydergine regularly.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
What cognitive abilities do you decrease?
Defining Statistics and Social Research
Modafinil (provigil) is safer, more effective, and less addictive than caffeine.
Unfortunately, possession without a prescription can get you a year in jail. Strangly, it's chemical predecessor, Adrafinil is perfectly legal to buy over the counter (at about a tenth of the cost as well). It actually turns into modafinil in your stomach, but it takes longer to take effect, and the chemical byproducts cause stomach pains and liver problems.
Best part is: Only a 15% chance of addiction, and you're unaddicted after a week!
"In caelum, illuc est libertas."
Ritalin (methylphenidate), Provigil (aka Modafinil), Adderall (mixed amphetamine salts), etc are not the only options. In fact, there is a whole class of cognitive-enhancement drugs, called Nootropics.
The best of these (and arguable one of the safest), in my non-medical opinion, is Piracetam. It is a cyclic derivative of the neurotransmitter GABA, and has been used extensively since the 1960s in clinical studies, for treatment of Alzheimer's (and more), and off-label as a "supplement." Many studies suggest it increases blood flow (and hence oxygenation) to the brain, and protects the brain against damage from alcohol poisoning. It has no known LD-50, and has been clinically tested in daily doses exceeding 50 grams!
I personally use Piracetam to help study, and through my (obviously non-blinded and partially-biased) self-tests, I found that it really does help me learn things faster. After a cramming/studying session, I'll usually look back and realize how much material I've been able to learn in such a short time. All friends I've recommended it to have come to the same conclusion. My dosages vary from 1 gram up to 5 grams at a time, repeating every 3-4 hours.
Unfortunately, the reason why Nootropics aren't used much is because they don't have the intense effects that *stimulants* such as Ritalin do. The effects of Piracetam are very subtle (though the first time is more noticable)--enough so that its easy to get discouraged. However, when you take Ritalin, the stimulation effect is VERY noticeable (and fun, for many people).
The big problems with stimulants are that they aren't great for your body, they can encourage bad sleep habits, they are fun to use (possibly leading to irresponsible use), and they can lead to distraction for those not used to the effects at the used dosage. Additionally, they have terrible come-downs. A responsible stimulant user must recognize these aspects and make efforts to control them, otherwise they will not get any work done, or worse harm themselves!
Disclaimer: I'm not licensed to give medical advice. These are my opinions and are for informational purposes only. Using the mentioned stimulants without a prescription is stupidly illegal (but illegal nonetheless). I won't get into how prohibition is stupid and doesn't work (I think free-use regulation and accurate dispersion of information is the way to go). More importantly though, using these drugs improperly can be unsafe. Make sure you thoroughly research any drugs you use, including over-the-counter drugs, and consult a medical professional when unsure about possible interactions with other drugs or your health conditions.
Wikipedia on Piracetam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracetam
Erowid on Nootropics: http://www.erowid.org/smarts/
Slashdot is loosing its touch.
In soviet russia, cognitive enhanced overlords welcome I?
Cognition enhancers just make your life more complicated. I'm currently engaged in cognition dehancer research. It's much tastier, too.
Now if only I could get funding for it...
As a few people have touched on above, there are some huge problems with the enthusiasm for these drugs. They are very poorly understood, not least with regard to side effects. So, let's say that the benefit outweighs the risk for people who truly need them (severe disorder, or what have you) - not only are they over-prescribed, but they are widely abused by people with no prescription ... any student at an American university can confirm. By my observation, people who have used too much legal-Speed (Ritalin, Adderall, etc) think and act a lot like people who have used too much Speed-Speed.
It does improve their performance in the short run though. And what do you think a professor sees? More kids getting more work done in less time - time to assign more problems; it isn't necessarily quality work, but if it was just busy-work to begin with (or it's just a large class), that doesn't matter.
Instead of drugs have you considered getting an extra 1-2 hours of sleep per night? This is cheaper than taking drugs, does not make you feel odd, and 10 years from now will not be shown to cause cancer/depression/heart disease/... If you are feeling tired during the day the message your body is trying to send you is 'sleep more' not 'take drugs'.
Have gnu, will travel.
If the decision were that simple there would not be a problem. The question you should be asking is "What person would want to be smarter given the risk of unknown side effects from long term use?". These things are messing with your brain chemistry so side effects could be subtle: suppose they suppress happiness (not cause depression mind you)? Would you want to take them then?
If there are long term effects, say like early dementia, is it fair for the rest of us to pay for the required health care? There is a big difference between taking drugs to restore normal functionality and enhancing performance of a perfectly healthy human being.
Personally I'm keen on the idea - from a selfish point of view :-)
As I have progressive MS it seems like cognitive problems aren't due soon (hopefully) and will be less than with other forms (again, hopefully) but if there's a hope for something that'll help prevent this - then that's great.
Not walking too well is ok, and being a wheelchair user is something I can surely cope with - but difficulty with thinking? That's the most terrifying thing I can imagine.
i disagree. people can hold however many digits in their head as they are accustomed to holding. to say that the number of digits just _happens_ to coincide with the number of digits in an american phone number is obviously ethnocentric.
not only that, but people become accustomed to structuring that memory in different manners. is it 2-2-3, or 3-2-2. or 3-4. people remember strings of digits in the patterns that they learned as a child.
i learned an 11-digit number on first go last weekend, its a swiss telephone number dialed from overseas; 414354#####. what is this bullshit about adding an *extra* digit to one's memory?
...vividly encapsulates that post-Watergate/pre-punk/coked-up moment when you could trust no one, least of all yourself.
I have taken just about every nootropic I could get my hands on. It's my personal choice... better living through chemistry and all that. I would say that my favorites are Provigil and the racetams (Piracetam, Aniracetam and Oxiracetam). Provigil (Modafinil) is what I prefer, but when I can't get my hands on it, it's easy to order Olmifon (Adrafanil) legally online from overseas and import. Olmifon is a precursor to Provigil. There are waste by-products, so it's not recommended to use for more than three months without liver tests. In regard to the racetams... I've found the three that I've mentioned to be all useful and unique in their qualities. Piracetam is great for communication. Words flow much easier and eloquence is heightened. Aniracetam is good for anxiety. It's been likened to the relaxation of valium without any grogginess. Oxiracetam is the turbo-booster. Big, huge effects, very quickly. It's like clicking a light switch in your head. Great cognitive enhancer all around. I like this one a lot. For the newly initiated, i would recommend trying Olmifon and Oxiracetam. Also, a good multivitamin including Phosphidatyle Serine is good for overall brain health. I currently take "Higher Mind", which I find to be pretty good. Side effects from all the supplements I've mentioned can vary. At time, any may cause a slight headache which can usually be remedied by eating a carbohydrate loaded meal. Do I feel that the supplements are worth the considerable cost? If I am studying for an exam or if I want that boost, yes. No doubt. For daily use, probably not. Something to keep in mind is that the brain is very clever and can build tolerances to anything, so the effects can wear off or become less noticable with daily use. That's why I try to use Olmifon/Provigil no more than 2 - 3 times per week. The rest of the supplements can be used daily, if desired. Racetams have no known lethal dose and are considered very, very safe.
Beta-blockers medications commonly taken by patients with varying heart conditions, such as Atenolol or Metoprolol, can also generate similar effects in brain function and memory. For example, as a child, I was regularly a D to F student during my middle school and early high school years. But after having been diagnosed with a heart murmur and placed on Atenolol, I suddenly started generating A's and B's in my classes. Although I never really pieced it together until a few years ago, I do know I was able to focus on my work far more easily due to a perceived "slow-down" in my overall personality
Also, it seemed to improve my ability to work with logic problems, making programming a far simpler task... especially when it came to tracing/debugging my own code.
8==8 Bones 8==8
Gambling is from the devil... string him up, boys.
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
We used Ritalin to cram for exams in 1959!
I use it mon-fri as an attention deficit/cognition enhancement supplement. I am able to concentrate on a task more effectively when using it. For me the effects are like cocaine without the euphoria. I don't get jittery or wired, just focused. I have a shrink who has studied provigil extensively as an attention deficit drug, and while it is not yet approved in the US for that use, he believes strongly in it, as do I.
As do the mice who will choose provigil over food when given a choice.
Do we need drugs to make our lives "better"? Why not? Our society is no longer based solely on fulfilling basic needs. We work in fabric covered boxes performing tasks that have no direct connection to survival, other than earning money to buy food. If a drug helps us do that then, given the facts about it, we can make an informed decision.
I have taken large doses of a B complex for most my life as instructed by a physician in the early 60's as a treatment for hyperactive type behavior. From what I have read the primary active agent is Niacin. The original dose instructions equated to 50mg Niacin a day as a child of six. At age fifty my usual daily dose of Niacin varies from 100 to 200 mg. If I happen to miss a couple days I get noticeably fuzzy headed and sluggish. A single 100mg dose seems to help defuzz me in a couple hours or so. I have noticed similar if a bit slower to act results from Ginkgo as well and take it occasionally. I have also noticed Ginseng taken with either Niacin or Ginkgo seems to help level and extend the benefits as well as reducing the ammonia odor in my first urine of the day probably because it has a diuretic effect and thus simply dilutes my urine.
wabi-sabi
matthew
Catch 22: A sane person who chooses to fuck up his/her mind with psychoactive drugs is not a sane person.
Try some mini-experiments. You already have your baseline of "getting drowsy for these activities".
My hunch is you run your life on the edge of a small chronic sleep-debt, which is the subtle cumulative effects of shaving off small fractions of each night's sleep.
Pick a weekend and clear your entire schedule. Go to bed with a clock, but the alarm off. (That's so you can glance at the time during the "false-alarm wakeup that you know is too early, and refuse to get up.) Even if you feel guilty/lazy, insist on resting for at least an hour past your "regular" timing.
Then when you do finally get up, do all your morning things, and have a large heavy-protein breakfast. Then take your coffee/soda/other beverage and lounge in your favorite chair with an *exciting* book.
Wait for it
So, you get up the second time, and maybe even a third. But eventually, your body will finally grudgingly admit it's rested, and call off the nap-attacks. Then if you succeed in getting through some 60/75 pages of your book, you'll have your key data point. However, the entire first trial could be a washout. That's okay.
It will take a few weekend trials to learn/train to settle down properly. But eventually, your semi-conscious will start forming the first pathways to that signal of "getting ready to study".
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
There's a psychological side to this, separate from the pharma-medical side. It's about managing people's expectations, AND their "feel-good" needs.
Starting from scratch, "sustainable" speed is always less than perfect top-power speed. So, yes at flawless form you might be able to do something in 2 hours, but corporate america forces workers to deal with weird distractions that for some of us seriously break the flow.
So, if your manager one day wanders up and asks "can you do that again in 2 hours", the answer is
Busy managers often trick themselves into asking for things only when it is already a crisis. Gently promote trading "preliminary news" because chances are, they often hear the rumblings of things hours or even days before, but it's not clearly defined.
I have done well with a "Shell First" approach. With the prelim news, I can start emailing necessary people for their fragment of the setup, build the blank forms, etc. Then when the manager gets his hands on the key data that flips it to "live", you have already done the *boring third* of the work. With only the interesting 2/3 of it left, chances are you can NOW make a deadline of "2 hours".
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
For landline calls, you can usually fudge the area code, but cell phones introduce weird new cell-area codes, and half the time people giving you their number forget to even tell you.
Re: dialing, you can always dial slower, giving yourself those extra seconds to keep looking at the number.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Absolutely, and this has even been in some high profile studies. Multi-tasking is at the employer's convenience. I think it's a weird form of "prisoner's delimma". It was all the vogue for about a decade for multi-T to be "the new wave of work", until the brutal evidence began mounting.
All I have been able to do is batch similar tasks, and carefully micro-manage minutes of rest in the day.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Your own phone number is in a different class - it's stable for a long time (until you move or change cells, etc.)
So that single piece of data gets lots of repetition.
The question at hand was how different people do with fresh new information *with no expectation of remembering it later*. Thus for a study, presented with 10 phone numbers your rate could be much lower. But if you're in an office and need to learn these numbers, then that motivation factor proves to make a difference in the results.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
That's hysterical.
Is this the Lifelock guy's data?
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
quantum structure
wtF?
If your middle manager actually does his/her job (i.e. manage), then it's fine giving nonpadded estimates.
;) ) the padding on your estimates, and let your manager do his/her job more effectively.
By default pad your estimates significantly (e.g. 3 x ), do not announce stuff is finished before time and assume you have to manage your manager.
If you give your manager an estimate, and the manager later gives you something significant extra to be finished first, AND still expects your old estimate to hold true, then you know your manager cannot handle the truth.
If you notice your manager does not pad your estimates when your manager reports to upper management, then you know your manager cannot handle upper management. If your manager tells upper management that X will be done by day Y and it isn't, your manager will end up in trouble, and you are likely to end up in trouble too.
If after a month or so you notice that your manager actually has a clue, then you can _reduce_ (not eliminate - stuff happens
You don't need to give all managers extremely conservative estimates, some actually know how to do their jobs.
A manager who does his/her job properly, can get far more work done than one who can't. The team won't need to give estimates like "3 weeks" for stuff that can be done in 3 days, because they can trust the manager to do the right thing.
Dr. Bonds - Nobel Prize Winner*
PM
Common sense would have us just use the natural compounds but the Medical Industry is not interested because of the low profit margins. So they market that which brings the most revenue not what may be in the best interest of the consumer. Here is a collection of easy to read technical articles and the related chemistry on a number of cognitive enhancers that are already available. http://intelegen.com/nutrients/index.htm#Cognitive_Enhancers/ [intelegen.com] Galantamine, Huperzine, Vinpocetine Rock! This is a short summary of each one: Memory Enhancement and Cognitive Function http://intelegen.com/nutrients/memory_enhancement_and_cognitive.htm/%5Bintelegen.com%5D/
"an infinite player that has lost his finite mind" ~Infinite Play the Movie (it blends with reality)
..than caffeine is. Do some tests with both and you're likely to agree. Also, there are studies that show that caffeine actually decreases the performance of workers. It's also worth keeping in mind that coffee isn't just caffeine, it contains other stimulants (and hundreds of other chemicals).
A chemical engineer is going to alter quantum structure?
Without Heisenberg compensators?!
Wait, wait, I think I see why an idiot would waste mod points calling this moron "insightful...." huge pharmaceutical companies There it is! What a perfect example of education we have here. Bitch about companies and you get an A in any subject!
After a year of experimentation with Classic Insomnia Medications we tried mirtazapine (brand is Remeron by Organon), which was invented as a tetracyclic antidepressant but is finding use otherwise, both on- and off-label depending on geography.
For my insomnia, mirtazapine works as well as the Classics. But with one important distinction - no tolerance. The same dose every night! No need to start the week low, end high, and stay off for the weekend. I developed a regular sleep schedule, a luxury I had never before experienced in my life.
My worst side effect is munchies, and I suggest keeping a box of low-calorie munchies like cheerios handy. If there are other side effects, I haven't noticed.
For energy during the day, I don't need anything stronger than lo-carb Monster or coffee plus B vitamins. That's because I can sleep at night.
Mithra-Zapine is my Savior.
Can someone please explain these "quantum" differences that allegedly exist in synthetic drugs and are somehow relevant to my physiology?