35 replies to this topic

[ceridwen]

Surely there is no point to Nootropics if memory can't be improved

[superhimik]

 

Memory can be improved. At least if you mean ability to encode or recall. Take cholinergics, galantamine, or glutamic acid.

Working memory, or the ability to manipulate information in your head, is not so easily enhanced.

What I mean is remembering people's names, faces, facts, etc. Can those drugs make that much of a difference? I'm also talking about spatial memory which I feel is harder to improve. Ex Remembering directions and how to navigate around areas

 

 

I have almost photographic memory concerning human faces, but when I have to use unfamiliar route I almost always get lost. Everything is in an equilibrium.
 

[TheBatman]

 

 

Memory can be improved. At least if you mean ability to encode or recall. Take cholinergics, galantamine, or glutamic acid.

Working memory, or the ability to manipulate information in your head, is not so easily enhanced.

What I mean is remembering people's names, faces, facts, etc. Can those drugs make that much of a difference? I'm also talking about spatial memory which I feel is harder to improve. Ex Remembering directions and how to navigate around areas

 

 

I have almost photographic memory concerning human faces, but when I have to use unfamiliar route I almost always get lost. Everything is in an equilibrium.
 

 

But isn't that what nootropics are about? Breaking though that wall, even if it is just temporarily?

[Metagene]

Memory can be improved. At least if you mean ability to encode or recall. Take cholinergics, galantamine, or glutamic acid.

Working memory, or the ability to manipulate information in your head, is not so easily enhanced.

What I mean is remembering people's names, faces, facts, etc. Can those drugs make that much of a difference? I'm also talking about spatial memory which I feel is harder to improve. Ex Remembering directions and how to navigate around areas

I find glutamic acid helps me remember more, yes. I take 500mg and I find things just stick better. It helps with encoding and is maybe the only thing that does. Also magnesium threonate (or other forms that cross BBB) help protect NDMA receptors also improving learning function. Cholinergics / galantamine I find make retrieval easier... as my mind is generally more agile. Spatial memory is best improved with something like modafinil.

Training also helps. Training your memory is well known to improve it. Get q-cards or something and blindly memorize vocabulary.

I suggest using a mnemonic system such as the Dominic system:

http://peoplebyiniti...r-memory-system

http://wmlabs.psy.un...lder Adults.pdf

The paper examines the effect of strategic training on the performance of younger and older adults in an immediate list-recall and a working memory task. The experimental groups of younger and older adults received three sessions of memory training, teaching the use of mental images to improve the memorization of word lists. In contrast, the control groups were not instructed to use any particular strategy, but they were requested to carry out the memory exercises. The results showed that strategic training improved performance of both the younger and older experimental groups in the immediate list recall and in the working memory task. Of particular interest, the improvement in working memory performance of the older experimental group was comparable to that of the younger experimental group.

[superhimik]

 

 

 

Memory can be improved. At least if you mean ability to encode or recall. Take cholinergics, galantamine, or glutamic acid.

Working memory, or the ability to manipulate information in your head, is not so easily enhanced.

What I mean is remembering people's names, faces, facts, etc. Can those drugs make that much of a difference? I'm also talking about spatial memory which I feel is harder to improve. Ex Remembering directions and how to navigate around areas

 

 

I have almost photographic memory concerning human faces, but when I have to use unfamiliar route I almost always get lost. Everything is in an equilibrium.
 

 

But isn't that what nootropics are about? Breaking though that wall, even if it is just temporarily?

 

 

1) Well. Frankly speaking I'm not sure about my personal attitude to nootropics. I know that they may help. Being very interested in research, I also know that every medicinal substance change a chemical balance of the body (brain). So I've not made a decision yet to what extent my own natural conditions (I mean memory and cognition) should change in order I start taking them. May be, I'm too young and still too smart to begin? 2) Today I know a lot about preclinical testing of nootropics (and going to start my own FINES Project). About 80-90 % of researchers use unnatural ways to decrease memory and cognition of laboratory animals (scopolamine https://twitter.com/...655764509831168 and cranial electroshock are the most popular). That is because they are trying to model some imbalance caused by a decease and are trying to develop a drug for helping those who are sick, not for those who are healthy. So, before taking a drug one should be confident that it will help not because of the placebo effect.

 

So may be, the right question is "Why is NORMAL memory so difficult to enhance?" Biomedical research is concentrated on NOT normal memory (injury, PD, AD, cerebral ischemia and so on and so far), so accelerating of normal memory is a some sort of the second task. And only such enthusiasts here and, for example, on reddit platform are taking drugs designed for NOT normal memory and try to answer the question : "Has it done something positive to my memory or is it just a placebo/ a short acting stimulant/ a trank and so on and so far?"

 

The topic question may also arise from the fact that measuring memory is not an ordinary task.

Edited by superhimik, 20 September 2014 - 02:36 AM.

[TheBatman]

 

 

 

 

Memory can be improved. At least if you mean ability to encode or recall. Take cholinergics, galantamine, or glutamic acid.

Working memory, or the ability to manipulate information in your head, is not so easily enhanced.

What I mean is remembering people's names, faces, facts, etc. Can those drugs make that much of a difference? I'm also talking about spatial memory which I feel is harder to improve. Ex Remembering directions and how to navigate around areas

 

 

I have almost photographic memory concerning human faces, but when I have to use unfamiliar route I almost always get lost. Everything is in an equilibrium.
 

 

But isn't that what nootropics are about? Breaking though that wall, even if it is just temporarily?

 

 

1) Well. Frankly speaking I'm not sure about my personal attitude to nootropics. I know that they may help. Being very interested in research, I also know that every medicinal substance change a chemical balance of the body (brain). So I've not made a decision yet to what extent my own natural conditions (I mean memory and cognition) should change in order I start taking them. May be, I'm too young and still too smart to begin? 2) Today I know a lot about preclinical testing of nootropics (and going to start my own FINES Project). About 80-90 % of researchers use unnatural ways to decrease memory and cognition of laboratory animals (scopolamine https://twitter.com/...655764509831168 and cranial electroshock are the most popular). That is because they are trying to model some imbalance caused by a decease and are trying to develop a drug for helping those who are sick, not for those who are healthy. So, before taking a drug one should be confident that it will help not because of the placebo effect.

 

So may be, the right question is "Why is NORMAL memory so difficult to enhance?" Biomedical research is concentrated on NOT normal memory (injury, PD, AD, cerebral ischemia and so on and so far), so accelerating of normal memory is a some sort of the second task. And only such enthusiasts here and, for example, on reddit platform are taking drugs designed for NOT normal memory and try to answer the question : "Has it done something positive to my memory or is it just a placebo/ a short acting stimulant/ a trank and so on and so far?"

 

The topic question may also arise from the fact that measuring memory is not an ordinary task.

 

Oh absolutely, great point. I do think there are many pharmaceuticals though that weren't intended for normal people but work for them as well, such as adderall or ritalin.

 

There's also not a fine line between normal and impaired so I don't know. I think we'll learn a lot about cognitive functioning in the upcoming years through the study of depression in normal people.