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Modafinil

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Theory-Driven Approaches to Cognitive Enhancement

Abstract

Modafinil is a psychostimulant often used for treatment of sleep disorders such as narcolepsy. Although the exact mechanism of action of the drug is still unclear, several studies have suggested the involvement of dopamine and norepinephrine transporters. The cognitive-enhancing effects of Modafinil have been studied in both sleep-deprived and non-sleep-deprived individuals. Even if some findings were mixed, in general, results seem promising and Modafinil appears to enhance cognitive functions, especially attention and cognitive control. However, impairment of performance on certain tasks (such as creativity) and a detrimental overconfidence-effect have also been reported. In this chapter, we review if and under which conditions the administration of Modafinil might enhance cognition in both non-sleep-deprived and sleep-deprived healthy adults. In non-sleep-deprived adults, Modafinil appears to increase specifically attention and cognitive control and this effect seems to be more pronounced in challenging task conditions and in low performing individuals. In sleep-deprived adults, Modafinil seems to maintain and restore performance on cognitive tasks, but at the possible costs of subjective overconfidence. Although more research is necessary to completely understand the neurobiological underpinnings, Modafinil seems a promising tool for enhancing cognition considering its low abuse liability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cognitive Psychology Unit and Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Lorenza S. Colzato & Rebecca Mourits

  2. Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Lorenza S. Colzato

Authors
  1. Lorenza S. Colzato
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  2. Rebecca Mourits
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Correspondence to Lorenza S. Colzato .

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Colzato, L.S., Mourits, R. (2017). Modafinil. In: Theory-Driven Approaches to Cognitive Enhancement. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57505-6_7

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