Brain doping: Modafinil works

Doping for the brain: the active ingredient Modafinil can improve cognitive performance. However, the positive effect is only noticeable in more complex mental processes, not in simple memory tasks, as meta-study shows. According to the researchers, the drug, which is only approved for narcolepsy and severe sleep disorders, is a real neuro-enhancer - which raises ethical questions.

It is supposed to help against narcolepsy and severe jetlag, but under the table the active ingredient Modafinil has long been traded as a neuro-enhancer - as a means to increase mental performance. Overnight students take it before exams so they can learn better, business people take it before important appointments. Whether Modafinil promotes concentration and memory and in whom has been highly controversial. Get info here about Modafinil supplier.

Nothing for simple memory tasks

Ruairidh Battleday from the University of Oxford and his colleague Anna-Katharine Brem from Harvard Medical School took this as an opportunity for a meta-study. For this purpose, they evaluated all studies on the effects of Modafinil on learning and memory, decision-making and planning, creativity, and mental flexibility that were published between 1990 and 2014. They found what they were looking for in 24 studies.

It turned out that the use of Modafinil does not seem to have any significant effect on working memory. This neuro-enhancer is of no use for simple memory tasks or short-term reminders - which could explain why older studies came to mixed results. The researchers report that there was also no measurable positive influence on the participants' flexibility of thinking.

Positive effect on complex tasks

The situation is different, however, for more complex tasks: "When used, Modafinil seems to increase mental performance more reliably," says Battleday. “This is especially true for higher brain functions, in which many individual cognitive processes are involved.” The active ingredient also improves decision-making and planning.

According to the researchers, this makes Modafinil a neuro-enhancer. "In other words: Modafinil is the first real example of a 'smart drug' that can help, for example with exam preparation," says Battleday. Because the substance causes an increase in mental performance even in healthy, well-rested people.

Contradiction in the side effects

The researchers' result on the side effects of Modafinil is rather surprising. According to her, 70 percent of the studies evaluated found no effect of the drug on the mood of the test subjects. Also, side effects such as headache, nausea, or sleep disorders were hardly more common than in the placebo groups.

This, however, diametrically contradicts the conclusions that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) came to in February 2011: It stated that the risk-benefit ratio of Modafinil for all uses except for severe narcolepsy “is no longer considered favorable”. In other words: the risk of being harmed by side effects is significantly higher than the hoped-for effect.

Ethical concerns

However, the researchers also emphasize one thing: "As with any method that is used to improve cognitive performance, ethical considerations must be taken into account," states Brem. Many see these means as unfair, as they manipulate your chances of success to the detriment of undoped competitors, as with doping in the sport thanks to pharmaceutical aids. In the long term, this could even lead to the pressure to succeed in brain doping even those who do not want to use such drugs.

"Earlier ethical discussions of such agents assumed extravagant effects before it was clear whether they would work at all," comments Guy Goodwin, head of the College of Neuropsychopharmacology on the study. "But the new data mean that the ethical debate is real: how should we evaluate an agent that enhances performance for those who have no pre-existing mental disabilities?"

Modafinil is still only approved for special clinical pictures anyway and is only sold on prescription. So-called off-label use, the use for a different than the officially approved clinical picture, is not accepted, use on healthy people is prohibited. However, this probably doesn't deter those who want to dope any more than it does the doping offenders in sport.