ArticleFrontiers in psychology2016
Pharmacological Neuroenhancement in the Field of Economics-Poll Results from an Online Survey.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Stimulant abuse as a coping strategy-Forensic and criminal consequences of stimulant abuse for neuroenhancement.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- [Doping in recreational sports].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2026Review
- A Preliminary Investigation of a Conceptual Framework of Performance Enhancement Across Different Life Domains.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Cigarette Smoking, Risky Alcohol Consumption, and Marijuana Smoking among University Students in Germany: Identification of Potential Sociodemographic and Study-Related Risk Groups and Predictors of Consumption.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Not so smart? "Smart" drugs increase the level but decrease the quality of cognitive effort.Science advances · 2023Article
- The Role of Different Behavioral and Psychosocial Factors in the Context of Pharmaceutical Cognitive Enhancers' Misuse.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Potential risk groups and psychological, psychosocial, and health behavioral predictors of pharmacological neuroenhancement among university students in Germany.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- The relevance of pharmacological neuroenhancement for stress and resilience-A multistudy report.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- The Prevalence of Pharmacological Neuroenhancement Among University Students Before and During the COVID-19-Pandemic: Results of Three Consecutive Cross-Sectional Survey Studies in Germany.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Psychiatric Comorbidity and Stress in Medical Students Using Neuroenhancers.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Pharmacological Neuroenhancement: Current Aspects of Categorization, Epidemiology, Pharmacology, Drug Development, Ethics, and Future Perspectives.Neural plasticity · 2021Review
- The off-prescription use of modafinil: An online survey of perceived risks and benefits.PloS one · 2020Article
- Pharmacological Human Enhancement: An Overview of the Looming Bioethical and Regulatory Challenges.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Review
- Prevalence Estimates for Pharmacological Neuroenhancement in Austrian University Students: Its Relation to Health-Related Risk Attitude and the Framing Effect of Caffeine Tablets.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2018Article
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- Sensitivity of Quantitative Signal Detection in Regards to Pharmacological Neuroenhancement.International journal of molecular sciences · 2017Article
- Psychostimulants As Cognitive Enhancers in Adolescents: More Risk than Reward?Frontiers in public health · 2017Review
- Pharmacological Neuroenhancement: teachers' knowledge and attitudes-Results from a survey study among teachers in Germany.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2016Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe use of over-the-counter, prescription, and illicit drugs to increase attention, concentration, or memory-often called (pharmacological) neuroenhancement-shows a broad range of prevalence rates among students. However, very little data is available on neuroenhancement among employed persons. The aim of this study was to provide first data on substance use for neuroenhancement among readers of the German "Handelsblatt" coming from the field of economics.
methodsReaders of the online edition of the Handelsblatt, a leading print and online medium for the field of economics, were invited to participate in a survey via a link on the journal homepage to complete a web-based questionnaire. Within the questionnaire, participants were asked for their gender, current age, current professional status, hours of work per week, prevalence rates of substance use for the purpose of neuroenhancement as well as for reasons of its use. Binary regression analyses with stepwise forward selection were used to predict the dependent variables "use of illicit and prescription drugs for neuroenhancement" (yes/no), "use of over-the-counter drugs for neuroenhancement" (yes/no), and "use of any drug for neuroenhancement" (yes/no).
resultsA total of 1021 participants completed the anonymous survey. Lifetime prevalence for the use of any drug for neuroenhancement was 88.0% and for the use of illicit and prescription drugs for neuroenhancement 19.0%. Reasons and situations that predicted neuroenhancement with illicit and prescription drugs were "curiosity," "to enhance mood," "for a confident appearance," "stress/pressure to perform," and "deadline pressure." DISCUSSION: The study shows that neuroenhancement with drugs is a widespread and frequent phenomenon among people belonging to the professional field of economics. Given in the literature that the use of drugs, especially prescription, and illicit drugs, may be associated with side effects, the high epidemic of drug use for neuroenhancement also shown in the present paper underlines the new public health concern of neuroenhancement.
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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.