Neuroenhancement Among German University Students: Motives, Expectations, and Relationship with Psychoactive Lifestyle Drugs

Abstract

Recent research has indicated that neuroenhancement (NE), the use of legal or illegal drugs by healthy individuals to improve their cognitive performance, is widely practiced among students in both the United States and Germany. The primary objective of this study was to identify the motives for and beliefs regarding the benefits and risks of practicing NE among a sample of German university students and graduates. The secondary objective was to determine the relationship between the use of neuroenhancers and the use of several common psychoactive lifestyle drugs. A web-based survey was used to interview students and postgraduates. Of the 1,324 participants, 93 reported having practiced NE for the primary motives of improving concentration (55%) and increasing vigilance (49%). Participants who reported having practiced NE were more likely to assess NE as more beneficial and less harmful compared to participants who reported not having practiced NE. The former also reported greater use of all lifestyle drugs except alcohol compared to the latter. The primary motives for practicing NE are associated with management of a high level of stress and a large academic workload. As such, decreasing the prevalence of NE among students requires implementation of strategies targeting stress reduction and workload management.

Psychostimulants

“…Psychostimulant drugs have been widely used to increase cognitive performance over long periods of time, in particular to improve concentration, vigilance, wakefulness, studying, etc. (Arria & Wish, 2006;Eickenhorst, Vitzthum, Klapp, Groneberg, & Mache, 2012;Grinspoon & Hedblom, 2005;McCabe, Knight, Teter, & Wechsler, 2005). Psychostimulants effectively increase arousal and learning attention in humans for long periods of time at doses inducing only a short lasting "high," with no signs of dysphoria (Higgins et al, 1990;Stillman, Jones, Moore, Walker, & Welm, 1993).…”

(Mis)use of prescribed stimulants in the medical student community: Motives and behaviors. A population-based cross-sectional study

“…Cognitive enhancement is a popular topic, attracting the attention of the general public and the scientific community (Eickenhorst et al, 2012). Medically prescribed psychostimulants (MPP) such as methylphenidate are the most frequently consumed smart drugs, especially in US college campuses (Franke et .…”

Who Uses Direct-to-Consumer Brain Stimulation Products, and Why? A Study of Home Users of tDCS Devices

“…Although previous studies have examined the demographics, motivations, and attitudes of those who utilize cognitive enhancement drugs (e.g., Eickenhorst et al 2012;Ragan et al 2013;Forlini et al 2014;Ott and Biller-Andorno 2014;Vargo and Petróczi 2016;Riddell et al 2017), there is little data to-date on similar measures for those who utilize brain stimulation devices marketed for cognitive enhancement. In addition, while many studies on the use of cognitive enhancement drugs have focused on local populations, often comprised of university students, the methodology employed here allowed for the examination of a unique sample that cut across a wide array of ages and geographical locations.…”