“Results from the Interdisciplinary Conference of Psychedelic Research 2020”
One of their primary drivers is the promise that regularly using “sub-threshold” (“won’t get you high”) amounts of psychedelic substances – will enhance cognition and memory.
Indeed, members of online microdosing hubs (e.g. Reddit, TheThirdWave) enthusiastically report positive effects related to their cognitive performance and creativity. Scientists refer to these benefits collectively as nootropic effects. Others are more focused on the mental health and well-being benefits: users with depression and anxiety claim microdosing helps with their symptoms, and healthy users report it helps put them in a more positive mood.
The reported nootropic effects of microdosing are manifold: improvements in concentration, creativity, spiritual awareness, productivity, language, and visual capabilities.
Not All Is Placebo: Clinical Potential of Microdosing
The unglamorous truth is, research to date has shown that the best, most reliable nootropic is… cardiovascular exercise.
Different drugs that supposedly boost your brain have come in and out of style. Modafinil, the most popular one, was even proven to be mildly effective at enhancing attention and memory, particularly in performing complex tasks.10 But none of the nootropics’ effects are even remotely close to “unlocking the full potential of the human brain” in the way depicted in the movie Limitless. Psychedelics are no exception.