Abstract
This chapter presents the results of two studies investigating the effects of cholinomimetic drugs on cognitive functioning in humans. Experiment I investigated the effects of physostigmine, a drug which inhibits cholinesterase and thereby slows the destruction of acetylcholine (Koelle, 1975). Experiment II investigated the effects of precursor loading with choline chloride; this procedure may increase brain acetylcholine and central cholinergic activity (Cohen and Wurtman, 1976; Haubrich et al., 1975). These studies were undertaken because previous work both with animals and with humans indicates that cholinergic mechanisms play an important role in cognitive activities such as learning and memory. One hypothesis of particular interest to us was that some aspects of human cognitive functioning may be improved by giving drugs that increase the level of central cholinergic activity.
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Mohs, R.C., Davis, K.L., Tinklenberg, J.R., Pfefferbaum, A., Hollister, L.E., Kopell, B.S. (1979). Cognitive Effects of Physostigmine and Choline Chloride in Normal Subjects. In: Davis, K.L., Berger, P.A. (eds) Brain Acetylcholine and Neuropsychiatric Disease. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2934-3_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2934-3_16
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