The age of cosmetic neurology

When I first read about this, it really got me thinking. I mean for all the substances that we have concocted or natural products and by-products that make good in modern society, this one really had me intrigued. The title of the post comes from comments made by Prof. Chatterjee and cited by a Johann Hari posting at The Huffington Post (see references below). Prof. Chatterjee postulates on the relationship between level of concentration and the degree of creativity of those thoughts. Johann talks of his experiment with Provigilis, a prescription medicine used to improve wakefulness in adults who experience excessive sleepiness due to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), shift work sleep disorder or narcolepsy. He was quite definative in his expression that changes were obvious, to himself, and even to those around him that were not privy to his role an lab rat. His conclusion was taking a pill for an ailment or condition you do not have is stupid. I'd go with that 95%, and then question whether or not that approach is sufficiently open to allow for some unexpected or unanticipated results - the way most cool stuff is discovered - by accident - ya know - like Viagra - having been originally developed to treat Angina. Like he says though, the side effects on the brain structure/function are as yet unclear and therefore caution is warranted.

As with so many other decision and choices we have in our lives, this comes down to risk management. Is your risk tolerance of the nature that the improved short term performance is more desirable than the potential risk of losing brain function or some portion thereof? Before you answer that - look at all the people that still smoke cigarettes in face of known harmful effects? That is yet just another risk management decision. A choice they consciously make every time they light one up.

I can't not acknowledge that over the course of my education I explored a variety of enhancement options. However, they were rarely of the sophistication or complexity of this type of comestic neurology. For me at the moment, the thought of my children exploring the use of ADD/ADHD or other types of drugs to enhance their performance in their studies a little disheartening - why would you do that? However, that sounds at the moment more than a little hypocritcal. And it sound way too much like my dad!

When we enhance cognition with Adderall, do we sacrifice creativity? A preliminary study.

Farah MJ, Haimm C, Sankoorikal G, Chatterjee A.

Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2008 Nov 15.

My Experiment With Smart Drugs

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v456/n7223/full/456702a.html

Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy
Nature 456, 702-705 (11 December 2008)

Henry Greely, Barbara Sahakian, John Harris, Ronald C. Kessler, Michael Gazzaniga, Philip Campbell, Martha J. Farah

SUMMARY: Society must respond to the growing demand for cognitive enhancement. That response must start by rejecting the idea that 'enhancement' is a dirty word, argue Henry Greely and colleagues.