Society must respond to the growing demand for cognitive enhancement. That response must start by rejecting the idea that 'enhancement' is a dirty word, argue Henry Greely and colleagues.

/pdf/towards-responsible-use-of-cognitive-enhancing-drugs-by-the-yfr3q74rht.pdf

Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy

Beneficial effects of physical exercise on neuroplasticity and cognition.

The indirect catecholamine agonist methylphenidate (Ritalin) is the drug treatment of choice in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), one of the most common behavioral disorders of childhood (DSM-IV), although symptoms may persist into adulthood. Methylphenidate can enhance cognitive performance in adults and children diagnosed with AD/HD (Kempton et al., 1999; Riordan et al., 1999) and also in normal human volunteers on tasks sensitive to frontal lobe damage, including aspects of spatial working memory (SWM) performance (Elliott et al., 1997). The present study investigated changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) induced by methylphenidate during performance of a self-ordered SWM task to define the neuroanatomical loci of the beneficial effect of the drug. The results show that the methylphenidate-induced improvements in working memory performance occur with task-related reductions in rCBF in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex. The beneficial effects of methylphenidate on working memory were greatest in the subjects with lower baseline working memory capacity. This is to our knowledge the first demonstration of a localization of a drug-induced improvement in SWM performance in humans and has relevance for understanding the treatment of AD/HD.

Methylphenidate Enhances Working Memory by Modulating Discrete Frontal and Parietal Lobe Regions in the Human Brain

Cognitive enhancement takes many and diverse forms. Various methods of cognitive enhancement have implications for the near future. At the same time, these technologies raise a range of ethical issues. For example, they interact with notions of authenticity, the good life, and the role of medicine in our lives. Present and anticipated methods for cognitive enhancement also create challenges for public policy and regulation.

/pdf/cognitive-enhancement-methods-ethics-regulatory-challenges-3khkzjalew.pdf

Cognitive Enhancement: Methods, Ethics, Regulatory Challenges

https://www.gwern.net/docs/modafinil/2010-repantis.pdf

Modafinil and methylphenidate for neuroenhancement in healthy individuals: A systematic review

Our growing ability to alter brain function can be used to enhance the mental processes of normal individuals as well as to treat mental dysfunction in people who are ill The prospect of neurocognitive enhancement raises many issues about what is safe, fair and otherwise morally acceptable This article resulted from a meeting on neurocognitive enhancement that was held by the authors Our goal is to review the state of the art in neurocognitive enhancement, its attendant social and ethical problems, and the ways in which society can address these problems

/pdf/neurocognitive-enhancement-what-can-we-do-and-what-should-we-4vbrhm6leh.pdf

Eric Parens

Papers

Neurocognitive enhancement: what can we do and what should we do?