Neuroenhancement

Neuroenhancement refers to the targeted enhancement and extension of cognitive and affective abilities based on an understanding of their underlying neurobiology in healthy persons who do not have any mental illness. As such, it can be thought of as an umbrella term that encompasses pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods of improving cognitive, affective, and motor functionality, as well as the overarching ethico-legal discourse that accompanies these aims. Critically, for any agent to qualify as a neuroenhancer, it must reliably engender substantial cognitive, affective, or motor benefits beyond normal functioning in healthy individuals, whilst causing few side effects: at most at the level of commonly used comparable legal substances or activities, such as caffeine, alcohol, and sleep-deprivation. Neuroenhancement refers to the targeted enhancement and extension of cognitive and affective abilities based on an understanding of their underlying neurobiology in healthy persons who do not have any mental illness. As such, it can be thought of as an umbrella term that encompasses pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods of improving cognitive, affective, and motor functionality, as well as the overarching ethico-legal discourse that accompanies these aims. Critically, for any agent to qualify as a neuroenhancer, it must reliably engender substantial cognitive, affective, or motor benefits beyond normal functioning in healthy individuals, whilst causing few side effects: at most at the level of commonly used comparable legal substances or activities, such as caffeine, alcohol, and sleep-deprivation. Pharmalogical neuroenhancement agents include the well-validated nootropics, such as racetam, vinpocetine, and phosphatidylserine, as well as other drugs used for treating patients suffering from neurological disorders. Non-pharmacological measures include non-invasive brain stimulation, which has been employed to improve various cognitive and affective functions, and brain-machine interfaces, which hold much potential to extend the repertoire of motor and cognitive actions available to humans. Although consideration of individual neuroenhancement agents is usually triggered by success in clinical and technological fields, they have also been used to attempt to help people with lack of normal cognitive, motor, and affective abilities: for example, social skills and empathy. In this case, neuroenhancement drugs try to increase oxytocin and decrease cortisol levels helping people better their communication and social interaction skills. Modafinil is a wakefulness-promoting drug that decreases fatigue, increases vigilance, reduces daytime sleepiness, and improves mood. Modafinil is currently licensed for treating patients with disorders such as narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and shift work sleep disorder. This drug also seems promising in the treatment of depression and bipolar disorder. Modafinil is currently being used by United States Air Force personnel for missions of great duration in an attempt to decrease fatigue amongst aircrew. It has become more popular amongst the general public. In an online poll conducted by Nature magazine, 8.8% of 1400 corresponding readers admitted use of modafinil for non-medical reasons. Their reasoning behind its use was for increasing concentration and focus on a specific task or to counteract sleep deficit and jetlag. A comparison between the sales of modafinil to the number of patients revealed a disproportionate ratio, indicating high abuse. Modafinil has been reported to improve executive function in healthy non-sleep-deprived individuals, as well as potentially improving attention and learning and memory. Effects on sleep deprived individuals are even more striking: a single dose resulted in enhanced wakefulness, executive functions, and memory. In the case of sustained sleep deprivation, repeated intake of modafinil helped individuals maintain higher levels of wakefulness than the placebo, but did not help attention and executive function. Since the majority of these trials were conducted on military personnel, further research needs to be conducted on the effects of modafinil on the general population. Modafinil may impair one's self-monitoring ability. A common trend found in research studies indicated that participants rated their performances on cognitive tests higher than it actually was, suggesting 'overconfidence' effect. Modafinil is becoming increasingly popular among the general population. Apart from a consumer's want to increase his neurological performance, there are financial incentives for manufacturers as well. Modafinil has a market share of more than $700 million a year, indicating a high degree of off-label use. Modafinil is also one of the more easily available neuroenhancement drugs in the market today. Modafinil can be boughtfrom many websites – mostly from Asian countries – as well as from darknet markets. Modafinil first came into attention when world champion runner Kelli White was tested positive for illegally consuming modafinil in the Athletics World Championship in 2003, resulting in the loss of her two gold medals. Methylphenidate (MPH) is a stimulant that is used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). MPH is known to be highly abused by the general population, especially college students. In an online poll conducted by Nature magazine, 12.4% of 1400 corresponding readers admitted use of MPH for non-medical reasons. Their reasoning behind its use was for increasing concentration, sleep deficit, and jetlag. A comparison between the sales of MPH to the number of patients revealed a disproportionate ratio, indicating high abuse. MPH is believed to have a positive effect for memory consolidation, but studies have not been able to conclusively verify this claim. Popular opinion that MPH enhances attention could not be verified. Studies of MPH have reported improved problem solving skills. However, when these studies were repeated to replicate the results, the placebo group scored higher, indicating that MPH may even impair performance. These inconclusive, and generally negative, results for memory enhancement are insufficient to explain the use of MPH for non-medical reasons. Users may have motives other than genuine neuroenhancement that propels its unprescribed use, such as subjective and recreational effects. The lack of any result, positive or negative, indicated that the 10–20 mg dosage may be too low for the drug. Further studies need to be conducted, looking at different doses of MPH.