A recent study finds that the drug Modafinil is efficient in improving planning and decision-making skills as well as performance on long and complex tasks. The new study consisted on a review of previous studies on the effects of Modafinil. The drug is also known by its brand name Provigil. The medication was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of people with sleep disorders called narcolepsy. However, the majority of the drug's users found another use. Especially the students who have to study and take exams use the drug off-label. They believe Modafinil may help them focus for their studies, despite the lack of strong evidence to date showing that the medication is efficient for this purpose.
According to Ruairidh McLennan Battleday, a co-author of the new review and a lecturer at the University of Oxford in England, since the year 2008 this is the first overview of Modafinil's actions in non-sleep-deprived people. In a statement, Battleday added that the recent studies on the effects of the drug have shown that it indeed enhances thinking. The studies have used complex tests of cognition. Battleday explained that the drug affects, in particular, the "higher-brain functions that rely on the contribution from multiple simple cognitive processes".
The researchers published their review in the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology on Thursday, August 20. They also raised some ethical concerns about using the drug if it gives students an unfair advantage in preparing for or taking tests.
Past studies of Modafinil's effects showed some mixed results. The research was done on healthy, non-sleep-deprived individuals. The new research paper reviewed 24 placebo-controlled studies in healthy people. The previous studies that were reviewed were published between the years 1990 and 2014 and included more than 700 participants total. They were testing a variety of aspects of thinking, including flexibility, planning and decision-making, memory, learning, and creativity.
The conclusion of the research is that Modafinil can improve certain features of cognition. Overall, the drug appeared to improve in particular the executive function, the ability to analyze new information and make plans based on it. The drug also enhanced people's ability to focus, learn and remember, according to the researchers.
However, the scientists found that Modafinil didn't consistently help participants on simple tests of attention. According to them, the drug had "little effect on creativity and motor excitability," and it did not improve significantly people's flexibility of thought, working memory, or ability to divide their attention.
Based on the findings, the researchers stated that the drug Modafinil can be considered a cognitive enhancer. According to Anna-Katharine Brem, co-author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at Oxford, this raises ethical concerns of unfair advantage of students using the drug before exams and future work is necessary to explore this important avenue.
