title: Serotonin and human cognitive performance.
abstract: In the past decade, experimental studies involving healthy human volunteers have revealed that manipulations of the central serotonin (5-HT) system can produce quite specific changes in cognitive functioning, independent of overt mood changes. Reduced 5-HT turnover is consistently associated with impaired long-term memory functioning. Low 5-HT function may also impair cognitive flexibility and improve focused attention. On the other hand, stimulation of central 5-HT has repeatedly been found to impair performance in a true vigilance task. Currently, there is little evidence for mirrored cognitive changes due to opposite 5-HT manipulations in healthy volunteers. Given the mounting evidence for a role of 5-HT in human cognition, reduced 5-HT function could be directly linked to cognitive disturbances in certain conditions, such as in depression and Alzheimer's Disease (AD). There is evidence that stimulating (i.e. normalizing) 5-HT activity in depression may have specific beneficial effects on cognition, independent of a general relief of depressive symptoms, but this premise needs to be confirmed by larger-scale clinical studies. Recently, a potential role of 5-HT in the cognitive symptoms in AD has been identified, but there is insufficient data to evaluate the effects of 5-HT stimulation on cognitive symptoms in AD. It is concluded that serotonin is a potential target for pharmacological cognition enhancement, particularly for restoration of impaired cognitive performance due to 5-HT dysfunction. Further differentiation of the role of 5-HT in normal and disturbed cognition and evaluation of the effects of 5-HT manipulations in various populations is required to establish the full potential of 5-HT drugs as cognition enhancers.
authors.affiliation: Nestlé Research Center, Nutrition and Health Department, Lausanne, Switzerland. jeroen.schmitt@rdls.nestle.com
authors.forename: J A J
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wingen
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Ramaekers
authors.forename: E A T
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Evers
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Riedel
mesh_terms: D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012701:Serotonin