Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior
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Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. · Mar 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialThe cognitive-enhancing properties of modafinil are limited in non-sleep-deprived middle-aged volunteers.
Modafinil is a selective wakefulness-promoting agent that has been shown to enhance cognitive performance under conditions of sleep deprivation but which has equivocal effects in normal young volunteers. In a double-blind parallel group design study, 45 non-sleep-deprived middle-aged volunteers (20 men and 25 women, aged 50-67 years) were randomly allocated to receive two capsules containing placebo, 100 or 200 mg modafinil, and 3 h later they completed 100 mm visual analogue scales of mood and bodily symptoms, before and after an extensive battery of cognitive tests [pen and paper and the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB)]. ⋯ However, subjects in the 200-mg group also made significantly more total errors in the Intra/Extradimensional Set Shift (ID/ED) task than both the other groups. Thus, this study found limited evidence of cognitive-enhancing properties of modafinil in healthy middle-aged volunteers.