| Title |
Cognitive enhancing effects of modafinil in healthy volunteers
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Psychopharmacology, November 2002
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00213-002-1250-8 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Danielle C. Turner, Trevor W. Robbins, Luke Clark, Adam R. Aron, Jonathan Dowson, Barbara J. Sahakian |
| Abstract |
Modafinil, a novel wake-promoting agent, has been shown to have a similar clinical profile to that of conventional stimulants such as methylphenidate. We were therefore interested in assessing whether modafinil, with its unique pharmacological mode of action, might offer similar potential as a cognitive enhancer, without the side effects commonly experienced with amphetamine-like drugs. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the cognitive enhancing potential of this novel agent using a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Sixty healthy young adult male volunteers received either a single oral dose of placebo, or 100 mg or 200 mg modafinil prior to performing a variety of tasks designed to test memory and attention. A randomised double-blind, between-subjects design was used. Modafinil significantly enhanced performance on tests of digit span, visual pattern recognition memory, spatial planning and stop-signal reaction time. These performance improvements were complemented by a slowing in latency on three tests: delayed matching to sample, a decision-making task and the spatial planning task. Subjects reported feeling more alert, attentive and energetic on drug. The effects were not clearly dose dependent, except for those seen with the stop-signal paradigm. In contrast to previous findings with methylphenidate, there were no significant effects of drug on spatial memory span, spatial working memory, rapid visual information processing or attentional set-shifting. Additionally, no effects on paired associates learning were identified. These data indicate that modafinil selectively improves neuropsychological task performance. This improvement may be attributable to an enhanced ability to inhibit pre-potent responses. This effect appears to reduce impulsive responding, suggesting that modafinil may be of benefit in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 8 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 1 | 13% |
| United States | 1 | 13% |
| Russia | 1 | 13% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 13% |
| Unknown | 4 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 7 | 88% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 13% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 520 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 10 | 2% |
| United Kingdom | 10 | 2% |
| Germany | 4 | <1% |
| Netherlands | 3 | <1% |
| France | 2 | <1% |
| Canada | 2 | <1% |
| Italy | 1 | <1% |
| Switzerland | 1 | <1% |
| Portugal | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 2 | <1% |
| Unknown | 484 | 93% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Bachelor | 123 | 24% |
| Researcher | 70 | 13% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 68 | 13% |
| Student > Master | 59 | 11% |
| Other | 26 | 5% |
| Other | 90 | 17% |
| Unknown | 84 | 16% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 141 | 27% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 74 | 14% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 54 | 10% |
| Neuroscience | 39 | 8% |
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 23 | 4% |
| Other | 87 | 17% |
| Unknown | 102 | 20% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 108. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 July 2023.
All research outputs
#395,188
of 25,709,917 outputs
Outputs from Psychopharmacology
#114
of 5,354 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#288
of 53,350 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Psychopharmacology
#1
of 28 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,709,917 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,354 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.1. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 28 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.