Schizophrenia is a disorder that impacts many aspects of cognition. These include attention, memory, and language, among others. Currently, available medications are generally effective at treating psychotic symptoms but have limited efficacy on cognitive dysfunction, especially in prefrontal cortex-dependent functions.
Modafinil is a new agent with the potential to improve these functions. The study tested its acute effects on cognitive control using fMRI and a behavioral task. Results showed that modafinil administration was associated with greater activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and improved behavioral performance.
Modalert Tablet Online is the standard dose for most people. This dosage is typically used to treat narcolepsy, but it’s also used to improve cognitive function and focus in general. You can expect the cognitive advantages to last for 8-9 hours at this dosage. It’s important to note that you cannot experience the same benefits if you microdose. If you want to enjoy the full effect of Modalert, you should take 200 mg every day.
Twenty adult chronic patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia were recruited from the Cambridge Psychiatric Rehabilitation Service. They had a mean NART verbal IQ of 110+-6 and an average duration of illness of 17.3+-9 years. They were assessed for symptoms using the Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History scale. They reported a variety of positive and negative symptoms including delusions, hallucinations, thought disorder, and catatonia.
Participants were administered Modalert and asked to perform a series of tasks. They performed a stop-signal reaction time test, and their response execution times were recorded. They also completed the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). In all tasks, Modalert improved performance. Specifically, it improved set-shifting. It also decreased impulsive behavior.
The improvement was associated with enhanced prefrontal activation during task execution. In contrast, methylphenidate impaired stimulus-reward learning in the same study and lowered SSRT. The results suggest that impulsive behavior is related to reduced prefrontal control in schizophrenia.
Cognition is an important determinant of functional outcome in schizophrenia (Hyman and Fenton 2003) and improvements in cognitive function are associated with better quality of life and reduced psychiatric burden for patients and their families.
It is known that impairments on tests of executive functions are sensitive to frontal lobe damage in schizophrenia, with deficits seen in planning, SWM, and inhibitory control. Such impairments can lead to significant deterioration over time, even in first-episode patients, and can predict relapse and hospitalization (Pantelis et al 1995).
Previous studies have shown that MOD can enhance memory performance in schizophrenia. However, the mechanism of action is unclear. The present study found that the cognitive effects of MOD may be mediated by its modulation of anterior cingulate cortex activity. This region has been linked to impulsive control and impaired response inhibition, in particular during the IDED task.
Moreover, the study found that MOD evoked a ‘pro-arousal’ effect in a wide range of brain regions including prefrontal and medial thalamic domains, hippocampus, and ventral striatum, with a pattern of Fos immunoreactivity that is consistent with the fMRI findings.
This correlated with a reduction in delta and increase in theta frequency bands, together with a shift from low to high amplitude oscillations in the dopamine projection region, suggesting that MOD may have a direct impact on impulsive control mechanisms.
One of the most compelling findings from recent studies of schizophrenia is that cognitive impairment in this disorder is highly predictive of functional outcomes and is largely dependent on cortical networks operated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Cognitive enhancement using wake-promoting agents, such as Modafinil Australia, has the potential to improve cognition and decrease disability.
Several studies have shown that patients with schizophrenia perform poorly on tasks sensitive to the left or right prefrontal cortical region and that these deficits can be ameliorated by atypical antipsychotic drugs and modafinil. Moreover, the duration of untreated psychosis influences the severity of these deficits and their responsiveness to pharmacologic intervention.
PFC deficits in schizophrenia are mediated by norepinephrine and dopamine systems that project widely throughout the cortex and are well-suited to modulate cortical circuits engaged in higher-order cognition, including working memory and cognitive control5. The catecholamine systems, originating in the pontine locus coeruleus (LC) and midbrain ventral tegmental area (VTA), utilize the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and dopamine.
Modalert is a wake-promoting agent that increases circulating levels of norepinephrine and dopamine and operates via the hypocretin/orexin system to promote wakefulness. It also modulates the cingulate gyrus, an area of interest because it is involved in cognitive control. It is therefore reasonable to speculate that the cingulate effects of modafinil could contribute to its improvement of cognitive function in schizophrenia.
