Neurochemical Modulation Cognitive Performance and Subjective Wellbeing In Healthy Controls

Summary

This project aims to investigate the effect of modafinil on motivation, creativity, cognitive performance, and subjective wellbeing in healthy participants. The main task for this research project is to address how this novel stimulant acutely influences motivation, divergent and convergent thinking, cognitive performance and subjective wellbeing in non-sleep deprived healthy young adults.This is a randomised between-subjects parallel group design study. Based on the hypothesis that psychostimulants might enhance creativity through the increase in of dopamine and executive planning in healthy adults , we predict that healthy individuals who are in the modafinil condition will perform better in the motivation, creativity, and the cognitive performance tasks. Furthermore, based on the evidence that modafinil increases dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, putamen and the caudate, we expect specific subjective well-being and pleasure enhancement associated with modafinil use in healthy young adults.

Timeline

Start

2009-10

Primary completion

2011-08

Completion

2011-09

Publications

• Background Randall DC, Viswanath A, Bharania P, Elsabagh SM, Hartley DE, Shneerson JM, File SE. Does modafinil enhance cognitive performance in young volunteers who are not sleep-deprived? J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2005 Apr;25(2):175-9. doi: 10.1097/01.jcp.0000155816.21467.25.
• Background Volkow ND, Fowler JS, Logan J, Alexoff D, Zhu W, Telang F, Wang GJ, Jayne M, Hooker JM, Wong C, Hubbard B, Carter P, Warner D, King P, Shea C, Xu Y, Muench L, Apelskog-Torres K. Effects of modafinil on dopamine and dopamine transporters in the male human brain: clinical implications. JAMA. 2009 Mar 18;301(11):1148-54. doi: 10.1001/jama.2009.351.
• Background Turner DC, Clark L, Dowson J, Robbins TW, Sahakian BJ. Modafinil improves cognition and response inhibition in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2004 May 15;55(10):1031-40. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2004.02.008.
• Background Flaherty AW. Frontotemporal and dopaminergic control of idea generation and creative drive. J Comp Neurol. 2005 Dec 5;493(1):147-53. doi: 10.1002/cne.20768.
• Background Minzenberg MJ, Carter CS. Modafinil: a review of neurochemical actions and effects on cognition. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2008 Jun;33(7):1477-502. doi: 10.1038/sj.npp.1301534. Epub 2007 Aug 22.
• Background Mohamed AD, Sahakian BJ. The ethics of elective psychopharmacology. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2012 May;15(4):559-71. doi: 10.1017/S146114571100037X. Epub 2011 Mar 14.
• Mohamed AD, Lewis CR. Modafinil increases the latency of response in the Hayling Sentence Completion Test in healthy volunteers: a randomised controlled trial. PLoS One. 2014 Nov 12;9(11):e110639. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110639. eCollection 2014.

Drugs

Indications