A digital intervention for cognitive deficits following COVID-19: a randomized clinical trial.

Post-COVID-19 cognitive deficits are common, persistent, and disabling. Evidence on effective treatments is limited. The goal of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a digital intervention to reduce cognitive and functional deficits in adults with persistent post-COVID-19 cognitive dysfunction.

A double-blind pilot dosing study of low field magnetic stimulation (LFMS) for treatment-resistant depression (TRD).

Background: Low field magnetic stimulation is a potentially rapid-acting treatment for depression with mood-enhancing effects in as little as one 20-min session. The most convincing data for LFMS has come from treating bipolar depression. We examined whether LFMS also has rapid mood-enhancing effects in treatment-resistant major depressive disorder, and whether these effects are dose-dependent.

Age-Related Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Effects on Executive Function in Depression: A Systematic Review.

Objective: The aims of the current review were to: 1) examine whether the rTMS effects on executive function increase as age advances; 2) to examine the potential of rTMS to remediate executive function in older depressed patients; and 3) to assess the relationship between the executive function and mood benefits from rTMS in depression.

Methods: Randomized or matched-groups, blind, sham-controlled studies (12 studies, 347 participants) on excitatory rTMS applied to left DLPFC in depression were reviewed.

Results: A series of meta-regressions found no evidence of greater rTMS effects on executive functions as age advances.

Does Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Improve Healthy Working Memory?: A Meta-analytic Review.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been reported to improve working memory (WM) performance in healthy individuals, suggesting its value as a means of cognitive enhancement. However, recent meta-analyses concluded that tDCS has little or no effect on WM in healthy participants. In this article, we review reasons why these meta-analyses may have underestimated the effect of tDCS on WM and report a more comprehensive and arguably more sensitive meta-analysis.

Attention, Motivation, and Study Habits in Users of Unprescribed ADHD Medication.

Objective: Despite the limited effectiveness of ADHD medications on healthy cognition, prescription stimulants' cognitive enhancement use is increasing. This article examines enhancement users' attention, motivation, and study habits.

Method: A total of 61 users of unprescribed stimulants and 67 controls (no history of prescription stimulant use) completed tests of objectively measured and subjectively reported attention.

Prescription Stimulants' Effects on Healthy Inhibitory Control, Working Memory, and Episodic Memory: A Meta-analysis.

The use of prescription stimulants to enhance healthy cognition has significant social, ethical, and public health implications. The large number of enhancement users across various ages and occupations emphasizes the importance of examining these drugs' efficacy in a nonclinical sample. The present meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the magnitude of the effects of methylphenidate and amphetamine on cognitive functions central to academic and occupational functioning, including inhibitory control, working memory, short-term episodic memory, and delayed episodic memory.

Enhancement stimulants: perceived motivational and cognitive advantages.

Psychostimulants like Adderall and Ritalin are widely used for cognitive enhancement by people without ADHD, although the empirical literature has shown little conclusive evidence for effectiveness in this population. This paper explores one potential explanation of this discrepancy: the possibility that the benefit from enhancement stimulants is at least in part motivational, rather than purely cognitive. We review relevant laboratory, survey, and interview research and present the results of a new survey of enhancement users with the goal of comparing perceived cognitive and motivational effects.