2. Outline of lecture
• Definition: What is a CE?
• Stimulants: (How) do they work as CEs?
• Epidemiology of CE use
• Beyond stimulants: Other CEs
– Drugs
– Devices
• Ethical, legal and social issues
2
3. What is cognitive enhancement?
• Improving the cognition of a cognitively
normal person
• Corneliu Giurgea, mid-century Romanian
psychopharmacologist: “Man is not going to
wait passively for millions of years before
evolution offers him a better brain”
• Virtually all CE drugs were developed for
treating neuropsychiatric illness
3
4. Outline of lecture
• Definition: What is a CE?
• Stimulants: (How) do they work as CEs?
• Epidemiology of CE use
• Beyond stimulants: Other CEs
– Drugs
– Devices
• Ethical, legal and social issues
4
5. Stimulants as CEs
• Amphetamine (most
commonly as
Adderall)
• Methylphenidate
(aka Ritalin)
• How do these drugs
affect cognition?
– catecholamines, esp
dopamine
5
7. Stimulants as CEs
Executive function enhancement: sharp dependence on
individual characteristics. E.g. Mattay et al. 2003, PNAS
7
8. Stimulants as CEs
Executive function enhancement: sharp dependence on individual
characteristics. E.g. Farah et al. 2008, Psychopharmacology
8
9. Stimulants as CEs
Bottom line: May help some people, with some
aspects of cognition, but certainly not all…
9
10. Outline of lecture
• Definition: What is a CE?
• Stimulants: (How) do they work as CEs?
• Epidemiology of CE use
• Beyond stimulants: Other CEs
– Drugs
– Devices
• Ethical, legal and social issues
10
11. Who’s using, where, why?
• McCabe et al, 2005, Addiction:
– ~11,000 college students
– Lifetime prevalence overall: 6.9%
– Campuses ranged from 0-25% past year prevalence
• Reasons, methods, frequencies… much to be
learned
• People other than US college students… much
to be learned
11
13. Outline of lecture
• Definition: What is a CE?
• Stimulants: (How) do they work as CEs?
• Epidemiology of CE use
• Beyond stimulants: Other CEs
– Drugs
– Devices
• Ethical, legal and social issues
13
14. Other drugs with CE potential
• Atomoxetine (NE)
• Donepezil and other Ach drugs
• Modafinil
• Piracetam
• Novel memory drugs
14
16. Outline of lecture
• Definition: What is a CE?
• Stimulants: (How) do they work as CEs?
• Epidemiology of CE use
• Beyond stimulants: Other CEs
– Drugs
– Devices
• Ethical, legal and social issues
16
17. Ethical, legal and social issues
• Safety (note esp addiction risk w stimulants)
17
