Modafinil, a drug that promotes wakefulness in humans and animals, has been shown to improve cognitive performance in a variety of tasks. It can also boost motivation in people with narcolepsy and obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome.
The researchers found that modafinil increased subjective pleasure gained from performing behaviorally demanding tasks, particularly on the WCST and Stroop tests. However, it did not improve the task of learning motivational reinforcement.
Increased Energy
Modafinil Online Australia is a stimulant that can help you feel more energetic and alert. It works by stopping nerve cells from reabsorbing dopamine, an excitatory chemical after it’s released into synapses. This boosts your energy levels by keeping dopamine in the brain longer and allows more dopamine to reach the neurons that trigger mood. Unlike other stimulants, Modafinil doesn’t cause highs and crashes, so you can stay alert without becoming too jittery or tired.
Behavioral studies have also shown that Modafinil increases motivation. For example, one study found that participants who took modafinil instead of a placebo worked significantly harder on a complex mathematical problem-solving task than those who took the placebo. The researchers speculate that this was due to the drug’s reinforcement effects. The participants wanted to earn more modafinil so they could work on the problem again.
Another study comparing the effects of modafinil and methylphenidate on chess players found that both drugs increased performance, but modafinil was more effective than caffeine in terms of helping participants focus and reduce impulsive decision-making. In addition, a small trial involving doctors who took modafinil after a sleepless night found that they performed better than those who didn’t take the drug and didn’t perform worse on a surgical training simulator.
However, it’s important to note that these results only apply to healthy individuals who are taking the drug under a doctor’s supervision. It’s unclear whether these effects extend to healthy people who take Modafinil for recreational purposes or as a non-prescription cognitive enhancer.
Increased Focus
Modafinil is often prescribed for shift work sleep disorder, but it has also been used as a cognitive enhancer. Some studies have found that taking the drug may improve performance on computerized tests of memory, problem-solving, and visualization. However, results from these experiments are mixed. It’s important to remember that even though Modalert 200mg Tablet has minimal side effects compared to some stimulants, it still carries a risk of dependence and addiction.
It’s hard to know whether this ‘cognitive enhancing’ effect can be replicated in real life outside of the laboratory, but anecdotal reports from recreational users suggest that it does help people to stay focused for longer periods. One possible explanation is that the drug increases motivation to complete tasks.
A recent study examining the effects of pharmaceutical cognitive enhancement found that when participants took the medication originally developed for narcolepsy, they reported a greater enjoyment of various memory and problem-solving tasks than when they were given a placebo. However, subjective mood ratings did not increase in the same way. This suggests that a greater enjoyment of activities may be only one of many cognitive-enhancing effects of the drug.
The results of this study lend empirical validity to anecdotal evidence from lifestyle use of the drug and provide additional support for the hypothesis that modafinil’s enhancement effects are mediated via DAT inhibition. Interestingly, the study also reported that when the modafinil-treated group completed the Stockings of Cambridge spatial planning task, they made significantly fewer choices to obtain a correct solution than did the placebo-treated group, especially at the hardest (6 moves) level.
Boosted Self-Confidence
Several studies indicate that modafinil enhances motivation to perform cognitive tasks. For example, subjects taking modafinil on the one-touch Stockings of Cambridge spatial planning task required fewer attempts to obtain a correct solution than did placebo-treated controls (main effect drug: drug x task difficulty interaction; p = 0.007). Modafinil also enhanced the enjoyment of performing these tasks, as measured by subjective ratings of contentment, alertness, tranquility, and calmness.
The finding supports anecdotal evidence from recreational users of modafinil who report that the medication allows them to power through long workdays or complete academic projects without losing focus. However, these findings need to be weighed against the potential harms of over-reliance on this medication and its potentially addictive properties.
In addition, reliance on modafinil can mask underlying problems. For example, lacking motivation might be a sign that you’re in the wrong career or major, or that you’re doing work that doesn’t matter to you. Rather than popping a pill to boost your performance, you might need to rethink the way you go about your job or consider changing your life’s direction. For these reasons, you should consult a doctor before taking any cognitive-enhancing drugs. A psychiatrist will evaluate your health history and determine whether or not modafinil is right for you. This will include a physical exam and a mental health evaluation.
Increased Motivation
Although modafinil has been shown to improve cognitive performance in healthy volunteers and patients with ADHD and schizophrenia, it has not previously been shown to increase motivation. However, this new study found that the drug does indeed enhance motivational factors that directly impact cognition.
Subjects were given either placebo or modafinil in a double-blind setting and their performance was evaluated on a series of tasks. The tasks involved several cognitive demands ranging from creative problem-solving to set-shifting. Using an analog scale, subjects rated how pleasurable they found each task to be on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 10 (extremely). Subjective measures of contentedness, alertness, tranquility, and calmness were also recorded.
The researchers found that subjects taking modafinil were more likely to report finding the tasks more pleasurable than those in the placebo condition. They also spent more time searching for answers in the problem-solving task and tried out more moves in the set-shifting task. This suggests that the drug increases effort in response to an increased level of pleasure, thereby enhancing motivational factors that directly impact performance.
The results of this study support anecdotal evidence from recreational users of modafinil that the drug improves concentration and allows them to work for longer periods. However, the authors of this study were careful to point out that the effects they observed could be a result of a placebo and should therefore be taken with caution.