Cognitive Enhancement in Germany: Prevalence, Procurement Strategies, Causes, and Implications (ENHANCE)

德国的认知增强：患病率、采购策略、原因和影响 (ENHANCE)

• 批准号: 358282780
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Guido Mehlkop
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Arbeitsbereich 5: Sozialstruktur und soziale Ungleichheit
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/358282780?language=en
• 关键词: Cognitive; Enhancement; Germany; Prevalence; Procurement

Cognitive enhancement (CE) is the use of substances (such as caffeine tablets and methylphenidate) and other aids to increase mental performance when not medically necessary. It is often assumed that the increasing demand on performance as well as the desire to attain success and self-perfection causes more and more healthy people to turn to CE in order to improve concentration, alertness and/or memory. Some favor CE to increase productivity and quality of life as well as for the reduction of inequalities. However, critics emphasize such things as health risks, undesirable personality changes, violation of fairness norms and the illegal procurement of some of the substances. There have been very few systematic empirical studies on the general population regarding CE prevalence, willingness to use, supply channels as well as trends and attitudes. In addition, the mechanisms underlying the decision to use CE have not yet been sufficiently understood or empirically investigated. Hence in the first phase of the ENHANCE project, more than 20,000 persons in Germany were surveyed regarding CE in order to deal with these gaps in the research.The second phase will examine research questions which could not be (sufficiently) answered in the first phase. The focus remains on substance-based methods of performance improvement (with prescription drugs and illegal substances) but new methods will also be examined (such as brain stimulation and genetic modifications) based on various theoretical explanatory approaches. We want to explore the expected and experienced effects of the performance-enhancing substances as well as the effects of personal characteristics and social influences regarding the taking of these substances using both classical questioning techniques and experimental designs. Each person will be consulted four times, allowing examination of how consumption changes over time, what roles social context and work environment play (also under the current COVID-19 conditions), what effects the usage of CE has on people and social interaction, and how the substances are acquired. In addition, we want to better understand why people differ in their evaluation of the risks and benefits of CE as well as their moral acceptance – and to what extent these evaluations change over time. ENHANCE thus promises answers to central open research questions as well as to create a basis for the prevention of risky CE. The results will be disseminated through scientific publications, lectures, media reports and an international conference. The project will promote international and interdisciplinary academic cooperation as well as encourage young scholars.

认知增强（CE）是指在医学上没有必要的情况下，使用物质（如咖啡因片和哌醋甲酯）和其他辅助手段来提高智力表现。人们通常认为，对表现的日益增长的要求以及获得成功和自我完善的愿望，导致越来越多的健康人转向CE，以提高注意力、警觉性和/或记忆力。有些人赞成通过社会主义教育来提高生产力和生活质量，并减少不平等现象。然而，批评者强调了诸如健康风险、不受欢迎的个性变化、违反公平准则以及非法采购某些物质等问题。很少有系统的实证研究关于普通人群的CE患病率，使用意愿，供应渠道以及趋势和态度。此外，使用CE的决定背后的机制尚未得到充分的理解或实证调查。因此，在ENHANCE项目的第一阶段，对德国2万多人进行了关于环境卫生的调查，以解决研究中的这些差距。第二阶段将检查在第一阶段无法（充分）回答的研究问题。重点仍然是以物质为基础的提高成绩的方法（使用处方药和非法物质），但也将研究基于各种理论解释方法的新方法（例如脑刺激和基因改造）。我们希望通过经典的提问技巧和实验设计来探索提高成绩的物质的预期和体验效果，以及个人特征和社会影响对服用这些物质的影响。每个人将被咨询四次，以检查消费如何随时间变化，社会背景和工作环境发挥什么作用（也是在当前COVID-19条件下），CE的使用对人们和社会互动的影响，以及如何获得这些物质。此外，我们想更好地理解为什么人们对CE的风险和收益的评估不同，以及他们的道德接受程度不同，以及这些评估随着时间的推移在多大程度上发生了变化。因此，ENHANCE承诺回答核心的开放式研究问题，并为预防风险性CE奠定基础。研究结果将通过科学出版物、讲座、媒体报道和国际会议进行传播。该项目将促进国际和跨学科的学术合作，并鼓励青年学者。