ArticleThe Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry2021
The Downsides of Cognitive Enhancement.
Article in The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Restoration of Attention by Rest in a Multitasking World: Theory, Methodology, and Empirical Evidence.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- Research progress of tDCS in the treatment of ADHD.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Review
- Stable interindividual differences in modafinil's effect on vigilance during sleep deprivation.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Neurophysiological avenues to better conceptualizing adaptive cognition.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Head movements induced by voluntary neck flexion stabilize sensorimotor synchronization of the finger to syncopated auditory rhythms.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Unsigned surprise but not reward magnitude modulates the integration of motor elements during actions.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Alcohol-induced deficits in reactive control of response selection and inhibition are counteracted by a seemingly paradox increase in proactive control.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Vigilance decrement and mind-wandering in sustained attention tasks: Two sides of the same coin?Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
- Review
- Focusing on cognitive potential as the bright side of mental atypicality.Communications biology · 2022Review
- Effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation over right-DLPFC on vigilance tasks depend on the arousal level.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Non-invasive brain stimulation and neuroenhancement.Clinical neurophysiology practice · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cognitive enhancement is becoming progressively popular as a subject of scientific investigation and by the public, although possible adverse effects are not sufficiently understood. We call for cognitive enhancement to build on more specific, mechanistic theories given that a-theoretical approaches to cognitive enhancement are both a cause and a consequence of a strong, if not exclusive focus on the benefits of procedures suited to enhance human cognition. We focus on downsides of cognitive enhancement and suggest that every attempt to enhance human cognition needs to deal with two basic principles: the neuro-competition principle and the nonlinearity principle. We discuss the possibility of both principles in light of recent attempts to improve human cognition by means of transcranial direct current stimulation, a well-established brain stimulation method, and clinically relevant nootropic drugs. We propose that much stronger emphasis on mechanistic theorizing is necessary in guiding future research on both the upsides and the downsides of cognitive enhancement.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.