Acute cognitive effects of donepezil in young, healthy volunteers

Abstract

Positive cognitive effects of acute donepezil can be observed in various cognitive domains including mood, but its full nootropic potential is more clearly found close to theoretical peak-plasma concentration.

Metabolic and structural connectivity within the default mode network relates to working memory performance in young healthy adults

“…Digit span forward is considered to be related to efficiency of attention, while digit span backward serves as a standard index of verbal WM with a high test-retest reliability (Waters and Caplan, 2003). It has been widely applied also in studies of young healthy adults (Turner et al, 2003;Zaninotto et al, 2009). …”

Differential Effects of Ecstasy on Short-Term and Working Memory: A Meta-Analysis

“…Tasks can be classified as working memory tasks if they require concurrent processing of the information as well as retention or require the material to be altered in some way. Processing the information held in memory might require updating information, which can be assessed by the running span task (Pollack et al 1959) and n-back task (Kirchner 1958), or might require manipulating the order of the presented information, which can be assessed by the backward span task (Kessels et al 2008;Zaninotto et al 2009). Short-term memory and working memory are highly related, but distinct, cognitive concepts, and as such should be examined separately rather than in combination (Cantor et al 1991;Conway et al 2002;Engle et al 1999).…”

Neuroenhancement in Healthy Adults, Part I: Pharmaceutical Cognitive Enhancement: A Systematic Review

“…A positive effect of donepezil was found in voluntary but not involuntary attention in one study [123]. Conflicting results were found concerning working memory [118,124,125]. Two studies found that repeated doses of donepezil (5 mg/d during 30 days) improves episodic memory [126] and complex aviation skills [127,128] but three others found no effect or even impairment in memory, attention or executive functions especially in older subjects [129][130][131].…”

“…In summary, RCTs with healthy individuals have been conducted mostly with donepezil (5 mg single dose or 5 mg/d). A single dose of 5 mg donepezil has been found to improve information processing [117,118], procedural, verbal and visual spatial memory [119-121] and some executive functions [122]. A positive effect of donepezil was found in voluntary but not involuntary attention in one study [123].…”