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 activates cortical and subcortical sites in the sleep-deprived state.
UNLABELLED SUBJECT OBJECTIVES : To assess the effect of the wake-promoting drug modafinil on working memory and brain activation in the executive network , following a single night of sleep deprivation . DESIGN R and omized , placebo-controlled , 4-arm , double-blind evaluation of a single 200-mg dose of modafinil on working memory ( 1- , 2- , and 3-back)-related functional brain activation and performance following overnight sleep deprivation . SETTING General Clinical Research Center , Biomedical Imaging Center . SUBJECTS Eight medication-free men , aged 21 to 35 years . INTERVENTIONS Overnight sleep deprivation , single-dose 200-mg modafinil , functional magnetic resonance imaging MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Brain activation patterns and regional signal intensity based on the blood-oxygen level-dependent signal were assessed . The following reaction times were used as measures of performance : ( 1 ) attention in the scanner before functional scanning , ( 2 ) " back " responses during the active-task block , and ( 3 ) attention during the baseline task block . Contrast of activation maps among conditions revealed sleep-deprivation and drug effects , and their interactions . Performance in the deprived state was enhanced by modafinil only at an intermediate ( 2-back ) level of task difficulty and was associated with the recruitment of increased cortical activation volumes . Strong and consistent individual differences in performance were noted on the working memory tasks . CONCLUSIONS Modafinil effectively counters the adverse effects of overnight sleep deprivation on working memory but only when task difficulty is moderate , recruiting extensive areas in the executive network to do so . Interindividual differences in working-memory performance are stable trait characteristics
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 .