A review of its effects in schizophrenia suggests that modafinil facilitates cognitive functions , with pro-mnemonic effects and problem solving improvements .
The systematic review on the neurochemical modulation of the modafinil suggests that its mnemonic enhancing properties might be the result of glutamatergic and dopaminergic increased neuronal activation in the hippocampus and in the prefrontal cortex respectively .
Other neurotransmitters were also activated by modafinil in various limbic brain areas , suggesting that the drug acts on these brain regions to influence emotional responses .
Modafinil is a central nervous system wake promoting agent used for the treatment of excessive daytime sleeping .
Its vigilance promoting properties and low abuse potential has intrigued the scientific community and has led to use it as a cognitive enhancer , before its neural functions were understood .
Here , we review the effects of modafinil in human cognition and emotion and its specific actions on symptoms in patients with schizophrenia and whether these are consistently effective throughout the literature .
We also performed a systematic review on the effects of modafinil on neurotransmitter signalling in different areas of the brain in order to better underst and the neuromechanisms of its cognitive and emotional enhancing properties .
Modafinil improves cognition and response inhibition in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
BACKGROUND Modafinil , a novel cognitive enhancer , has a clinical profile similar to conventional stimulants such as methylpheni date , despite a seemingly different mechanism of action . Modafinil selectively improves neuropsychological task performance in healthy volunteers , possibly through improved inhibitory control . We examined whether modafinil induced similar improvements in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder . METHODS Twenty patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder were entered into a double-blind , r and omized , placebo-controlled crossover study using a single 200 mg dose of modafinil . RESULTS Modafinil produced a similar pattern of cognitive enhancement to that observed in healthy adults , with improvements on tests of short-term memory span , visual memory , spatial planning , and stop-signal motor inhibition . On several measures , increased accuracy was accompanied by slowed response latency . This alteration in the speed-accuracy trade-off may indicate that modafinil increases the ability to " reflect " on problems coupled with decreased impulsive responding . Improvements were also seen in sustained attention , which was unaffected in healthy subjects . CONCLUSIONS If these benefits are shown to be maintained with chronic administration , modafinil may have potential as an important therapy for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder with a similar effect to stimulants such as methylpheni date in improving stop-signal response inhibition but without the side effects commonly experienced with amphetamine-like drugs
A review of its effects in schizophrenia suggests that modafinil facilitates cognitive functions , with pro-mnemonic effects and problem solving improvements .
The systematic review on the neurochemical modulation of the modafinil suggests that its mnemonic enhancing properties might be the result of glutamatergic and dopaminergic increased neuronal activation in the hippocampus and in the prefrontal cortex respectively .
Other neurotransmitters were also activated by modafinil in various limbic brain areas , suggesting that the drug acts on these brain regions to influence emotional responses .
Modafinil is a central nervous system wake promoting agent used for the treatment of excessive daytime sleeping .
Its vigilance promoting properties and low abuse potential has intrigued the scientific community and has led to use it as a cognitive enhancer , before its neural functions were understood .
Here , we review the effects of modafinil in human cognition and emotion and its specific actions on symptoms in patients with schizophrenia and whether these are consistently effective throughout the literature .
We also performed a systematic review on the effects of modafinil on neurotransmitter signalling in different areas of the brain in order to better underst and the neuromechanisms of its cognitive and emotional enhancing properties .