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Neuro-enhancing drugs & language learning | ||
Tags: Brain | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| pmiller Account terminated Groupie Canada Joined 5474 days ago 99 posts - 104 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 51 13 July 2009 at 10:18pm | IP Logged |
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Can so-called "smart drugs" (also known as neuro-enhancing drugs) like Provigil (Modafinil) help one learn a language quicker?
Do any of you have experience with this? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| AlejandroMendoz Newbie Canada Joined 5425 days ago 24 posts - 24 votes Studies: French, English* | Message 2 of 51 13 July 2009 at 10:25pm | IP Logged |
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I believe so.
(Disclaimer: I'm not promoting drugs in anyway shape or form. I'm just relating a story) I heard from a guy who had to do a big Unit Test or Exam in University and he wasnt prepared so he smoked some Speed (which is a dangerous drug) and he was up for more than 19 hours straight studying. Could have been more. He aced the Test or Exam and claims to be able to still retain what he studied while in the Drug Induced Cramming session. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| goosefrabbas Triglot Pro Member United States Joined 6168 days ago 393 posts - 475 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German, Italian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 51 13 July 2009 at 10:38pm | IP Logged |
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There are OTC nootropics such as phenylethylamine and phenibut that can help you while studying. In the logs I've viewed it seems that some people are nonresponders, but many people get great effects. I don't know if they would help in the long run.
Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, this isn't professional advice, blahblahblah. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| pmiller Account terminated Groupie Canada Joined 5474 days ago 99 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 51 13 July 2009 at 11:44pm | IP Logged |
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Yeah, I should add that I'm also not promoting this idea - I'm just curious.
I'm highly suspicious of all drugs. Nobody really knows what the long-term effect of a new drug will be until it's been around 50 years or so. And nobody knows what a drug will do to any particular person, because we all have some differences. Then there are all the possible interactions with other drugs, or even food or sunlight, etc. A lot of drugs do more harm than good. But since big money is involved (whether the drug is legal or illegal), we don't hear enough about the bad side. I'm sure that over the long-term we will come to understand the human body and mind much better and be able to prolong life, reverse aging, enhance cognition and memory, etc. But we're not there yet. (Or maybe we are, but the people at the very top are keeping it to themselves?) Edited by pmiller on 13 July 2009 at 11:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| aeguy Newbie United States Joined 5420 days ago 1 posts - 2 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written) Studies: English*, German, Spanish, French | Message 5 of 51 14 July 2009 at 12:27am | IP Logged |
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No, because language learning is a long-term study process. If you were to use drugs every time you sat down for a study period, you'd be either dead or one messed up individual (with fried brain cells that contained the language you were learning).
Stay off drugs. Learn the old fashioned way: hard work and perseverance. :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| pfwillard Pro Member United States Joined 5499 days ago 169 posts - 205 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 51 14 July 2009 at 2:23am | IP Logged |
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Exercise is going to be better than all known pills for brain health at this time as far as I can determine. This is something I research compulsively but have only found disappointment.
Caffeine, to stay awake and shadowing, and maybe extra Omega-3 fatty acids in the diet but studies are not conclusive enough for me. I follow a Mediterranean diet on general principles and it seems to keep me healthy. If you have a doctor on-board and have had ADHD or other brain problems properly diagnosed then a med may be necessary to retain enough focus to get anything done. Getting the diagnosis right and the dosage right can take a few years and a few specialists. Don't buy Provigil without an Rx because you risk being turned in by an informant and locked up; worse, you can be identified as a "habitual drug user" and have all sorts of doors closed to you forever. I've tried piracetam with mixed results--sometimes it seemed to really turn on all the lights in my brain at once, other times nothing. It did make me very interested in crossword puzzles when I had no such interest before. In my experience, it is counterproductive if the goal is scholarly perseverance. Phenibut is possibly dangerous and is a sedative. I expect it to be banned in the US very soon. Picamilon is similar. Both are GABA and niacin combinations with the idea of getting the GABA across the blood-brain barrier in order to reduce anxiety. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| parasitius Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5798 days ago 220 posts - 323 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: Cantonese, Polish, Spanish, French | Message 7 of 51 16 July 2009 at 2:26pm | IP Logged |
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I'm still waiting for a brilliant language obsessive gives himself as our guinea pig to do like 72 hours non-stop LR. If he fails and self-destructs of it, he will be sneered and laughed at as a fool. If he succeeds, as some scientist who believes in his vaccine but cannot convince anyone without infecting himself, he will be applauded. The person doesn't change, its just our admiration is (perversely) results-based.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| awake Senior Member United States Joined 6436 days ago 406 posts - 438 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Spanish | Message 8 of 51 18 July 2009 at 3:56pm | IP Logged |
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The usual disclaimers apply: I am not a doctor, I am not recommending that anyone take these drugs, and if
you do take them the responsibility is yours and yours alone. With that said, I can relate the following: A friend of mine was studying for his Physics PhD comprehensive exams. He had 3 months to absorb huge amounts of very complex information, not just to memorize but to be able to apply it. Now, it's not like he had to do this in a vacuum, he had had 2 years of classes on the subjects covered prior to the test. But, he had had a year off from classes, and two weeks into his studying he was nearly at the point of a nervous breakdown. He couldn't absorb the information quickly enough, and was certain that he was doomed to fail the exams. He then obtained some smart drugs, and started taking them. The effect was almost immediate (within a day). Now, it could have been a placebo effect, but after taking the drugs he found that he could absorb more information, study with more focus and less stress, and solve novel problems more quickly and creatively than he felt he would have been able to do before. Other effect he reported included an expansion of his peripheral vision (his brain was taking in more of the information he was seeing), and an ability to listen to music and "hear" the individual instruments in an orchestra in a way that he couldn't do. He couldn't describe this precisely, but I gathered that he was referring to an ability to focus his concentration and ignore distractions. As an additional effect, his depression vanished within a few days, mainly (I think) because he began to feel confident that he would be able to learn what he needed (and keep it). As his confidence increased, his mood and attitude improved as well. He took the pills for 2 months, and yes he passed his comprehensive exams. One anecdote does not constitute proof, and even if they did work as advertised for him that's no guarantee that they would work equally well for anyone who took them, but it does suggest that in some contexts those sorts of drugs may have uses. If anyone is interested, the specific drugs my friend took were piracetam and hydergine. One may google them for more information. In general, one should remember that these are drugs, and once should seek the advice of a physician before taking them. Most physicians will advise you to not take them, period (do no harm and all that). But you may find some willing to help you do it safely if you are determined to try. And if one does need to see a physician for other reasons, you should always let them know whatever medications you may be taking. Over the years, I've been tempted to try these (or other similar) drugs to see if I get the same results my friend did. However, I don't like taking drugs as a general rule, and so I have never done it myself. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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