A number of anecdotal experiences speak in grand terms to Piracetam’s capacity as a transformative upgrade tool for the memories of otherwise healthy, young people. It has an uncanny, yet frequently reported effect of bringing back once forgotten memories, both good and bad. One Biohacker reported:
“I as well find Piracetam gives me access to more of my memory. One of it's wonderful effects. Great for writing a paper or doing any sort of creating and for just a general feeling of intellectual enhancement. Imagine more of your memory stores into conscious awareness! That is an amazing thing! If it brings bad memories up, just gives one a chance to work-through some stuff that is in the background of the mind and effecting one in some way, which is a good, enriching, rewarding process to go through”
Another self experimenter agreed:
“I have also had a FLOOD of memories reintroduced to my consciousness since taking piracetam. The memories are good, neutral, and bad. It a very strange, but interesting experience. I recently had a flood of memories and emotions of a childhood daycare experience.”
On the darker side of the spectrum, a PTSD sufferer reported:
“...when I take piracetam all the bad memories seem to find there way back into my head especially a night right before I go to sleep. Its tough to deal with, but the benefits are so good that not taking piracetam is a hard thing to do.”
Getting back into the published research data...
A noteworthy meta analysis was published in 2002, diving deep into the data of 19 double blind, placebo controlled studies, totalling over 1400 human participants. To quote the abstract:
“...the results of this analysis provide compelling evidence for the global efficacy of piracetam in a diverse group of older subjects with cognitive impairment.”
A placebo controlled, human study of dyslexics and non-dyslexics stated “...It was found, using a double-blind cross-over technique, that dyslexics significantly increased their verbal learning by 15.0%...”
The evidence that Piracetam enhances the memory capacity of the young and healthy is not as strong, however a double blind study of 16 humans found that a dosage of 1200 milligrams daily, produced a statistically significant increase in working memory and verbal learning after 2 weeks in healthy college students.
It's memory increasing effects are attributed to improving the function of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.