EFFECT OF MEMORY ENHANCERS ON SOCIETY

Diana sebastian

TOPIC

• The use of memory enhancing drugs will increase the divisions in society and should be prohibited in the same way as drugs of abuse

MEMORY ENHANCERS ????(NOOTROPICS)

• Drugs that are purported to improve mental functions such as cognition, memory, intelligence, motivation, attention and concentration.

• Stimulants = smart drugs = productivity enhancers

• Memory enhancement drugs are widely used in the Rx of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ADHD.

• Long term effects are not observed.

FOR

• They give you a huge boost to stay ahead in the competitive race.

• Most memory enhancement drugs are used for the treatment of disease like Alzheimer’s ADHD.

• It has also been proven to significantly improve the ability to stay awake in patients suffering from sleeping disorder like narcolepsy (Provigil -modafinil).

• The use of medical stimulants to sustain attention, augment memory and enhance intellectual capacity is increasing in society .

DRUGS USEDa) Adderall and Ritalin - They have been found helpful for the

inattentiveness, trouble focusing on specific tasks, poor memory retention.

b) Provigil- Provigil is a stimulant used to promote wakefulness in people with narcolepsy or shift work sleep disorder (SWSD). It has been used by U.S. soldiers in combat and at the International Space Station. It has been tried experimentally for Alzheimer’s, jet lag, ADHD, and chronic fatigue. Provigil is the most popular brand name for the generic drug Modafinil. Modafinil controls the amount of natural substances in the brain, responsible for sleep and wakefulness.

c) Piracetam- Piracetam has been used for a variety of conditions including Alzheimer’s and autism.

d) Methylphenidate- It acts by developing the reuptake of the neurotransmitters nor- adrenaline and dopamine, which prolongs their biochemical affects in the central neuron system. This has been shown t result in an increase in attention and a decrease in restlessness in children and adults diagnosed with ADHD.

AGAINST

• It is human tendency and nature to push ourselves beyond limitations.

• Smart drug may enhance focus but do not make you smarter• “Less side effect” is fake argument• Increase the capacity of restoration of memory will reduce

creativities • Chance of mood swing and irritation behavior• People who have memory enhancers would withdraw from social

interactions• Danger of addiction • These drugs keep awake but for consolidation memory requires

good sleep.

• It makes life more mechanical. • Suppose these enhance the memory of students

to get into good universities, then students needs to continue.

• Many sections of society can not afford for it, again its morally cheating the society .

• Suppose this drug is effective, what about “ language learning”??? – We learn language from human interactions and

cultural background of the language spoken in community

Other Adverse effects

• People who having memory enhancer would withdraw from social interaction

• Frequent urination - Constantly need to visit toilet.• It affect the food intake• Side effects such as ,

– serious rashes, – mouth ulcers, – thought of suicide, – dizziness, – vomiting and – irregular heart beat.

Should adults with severe memory and concentration problems from neuropsychiatric disorders be given

cognitive-enhancing drugs? YES

• cholinesterase inhibitors are being used to ameliorate the impaired neural transmission in the cholinergic system. Such drugs aim to increase the levels of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter important for maintaining attention and in forming new memories, and may have additional neuro-protective effects.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v450/n7173/full/4501157a.html

CASE STUDY

• According to McCabe et al report (USA), non-medical use of memory enhancers is 25% in college campuses.

• 7% of students report having taken stimulants “non-medically” at least once.

• For students, surveys suggest a lifetime prevalence of CE drug use ranging from 3% to 11% in the U.S. and 0.7% to 4.5% in Germany

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0068821

What makes people use memory enhancers non-medically?

• Approach towards winning and losing.

• To sustain in growing academic competition.

• If majority of students use stimulants, non-users would feel certain amount of pressure to follow suit in order to remain competitive.

What will happen?

• Nootropics would probably make an uneven playing field which is unfair and one that is likely only to favor wealthy who can afford to purchase them.

• Not only do the rich get richer but in future; they might get smarter.

• Educational inequalities between social classes.

• Cost-effective nootropics can help with cognitive performance in students with lower IQs.

• These drugs might free underperforming students from ‘neurological handicaps’ rather than creating an uneven playing field.

Conclusion

• By all analysis; memory boosting can be done only by two ways, ie

1. Education

2. Physical exercise.

• IQ has heritability

• Using memory enhancers is cheating because of unfair advantage.

• Idea of memory enhancing misleading.

REFERENCES• The implication of methylphenidate use by healthy

medical students and doctors in south Africa, Chad Berjoi, Ciara Staunton and Kaymanthri Moodley.

• memory enhancement: the issues we should not forget about, laura y. Cabrera

• Maher B. Poll results: look who’s doping. Nature [Internet]. Nature Publishing Group; 2008 Apr 10 [cited 2015 Jan 16];452(7188):674–5.

• Professor's little helper

Barbara Sahakian and Sharon Morein-Zamir are at the University of Cambridge, Department of Psychiatry and the MRC/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK.

• The Rationale for Consuming Cognitive Enhancement Drugs in University Students and Teachers

Sebastian Sattler, Carsten Sauer,Guido Mehlkop, Peter Graeff

Faculty of Humanities, Bundeswehr University Munich, Munich, Germany

Published: July 17, 2013