ReviewFrontiers in systems neuroscience2014
Performance enhancement at the cost of potential brain plasticity: neural ramifications of nootropic drugs in the healthy developing brain.
Review in Frontiers in systems neuroscience, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 118 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review of the Effect of Dietary Supplements on Cognitive Performance in Healthy Young Adults and Military Personnel.Nutrients · 2020Pooled it
- Review
- Ginkgo Biloba as a niche theme cognitive enhancer agent, 1420 dokumen of Scopus database. A bibliometric study from 1988 to 2024.F1000Research · 2025Article
- Paradoxical Boosting of Weak and Strong Spatial Memories by Hippocampal Dopamine Uncaging.eNeuro · 2024Article
- Acute effects of (-)-gallocatechin gallate-rich green tea extract on the cerebral hemodynamic response of the prefrontal cortex in healthy humans.Frontiers in neuroergonomics · 2023Article
- Cognitive enhancing supplements and medications in United States Resident Physicians.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- Review
- Review
- The Psychonauts' World of Cognitive Enhancers.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
- Pharmacological Human Enhancement: An Overview of the Looming Bioethical and Regulatory Challenges.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Review
- Childhood methylphenidate adherence as a predictor of antidepressants use during adolescence.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2019Article
- Effect of ADHD medication in male C57BL/6J mice performing the rodent Continuous Performance Test.Psychopharmacology · 2019Article
- Hacking the Brain: Dimensions of Cognitive Enhancement.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2019Review
- A Clinically-Relevant Dose of Methylphenidate Enhances Synaptic Inhibition in the Juvenile Rat Prefrontal Cortex.Journal of reward deficiency syndrome and addiction science · 2017Article
- Article
- Moral and social reasons to acknowledge the use of cognitive enhancers in competitive-selective contexts.BMC medical ethics · 2016Article
- Detection of feigned attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2015Article
- Pharmacological profiling of zebrafish behavior using chemical and genetic classification of sleep-wake modifiers.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2015Article
- A groundwork for allostatic neuro-education.Frontiers in psychology · 2015Article
- Smart drugs and synthetic androgens for cognitive and physical enhancement: revolving doors of cosmetic neurology.Current neuropharmacology · 2015Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Cognitive enhancement is perhaps one of the most intriguing and controversial topics in neuroscience today. Currently, the main classes of drugs used as potential cognitive enhancers include psychostimulants (methylphenidate (MPH), amphetamine), but wakefulness-promoting agents (modafinil) and glutamate activators (ampakine) are also frequently used. Pharmacologically, substances that enhance the components of the memory/learning circuits-dopamine, glutamate (neuronal excitation), and/or norepinephrine-stand to improve brain function in healthy individuals beyond their baseline functioning. In particular, non-medical use of prescription stimulants such as MPH and illicit use of psychostimulants for cognitive enhancement have seen a recent rise among teens and young adults in schools and college campuses. However, this enhancement likely comes with a neuronal, as well as ethical, cost. Altering glutamate function via the use of psychostimulants may impair behavioral flexibility, leading to the development and/or potentiation of addictive behaviors. Furthermore, dopamine and norepinephrine do not display linear effects; instead, their modulation of cognitive and neuronal function maps on an inverted-U curve. Healthy individuals run the risk of pushing themselves beyond optimal levels into hyperdopaminergic and hypernoradrenergic states, thus vitiating the very behaviors they are striving to improve. Finally, recent studies have begun to highlight potential damaging effects of stimulant exposure in healthy juveniles. This review explains how the main classes of cognitive enhancing drugs affect the learning and memory circuits, and highlights the potential risks and concerns in healthy individuals, particularly juveniles and adolescents. We emphasize the performance enhancement at the potential cost of brain plasticity that is associated with the neural ramifications of nootropic drugs in the healthy developing brain.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.