@article{WolffBaumgartenBrand2013,
  author    = {Wolff, Wanja and Baumgarten, Franz and Brand, Ralf},
  title     = {Reduced self-control leads to disregard of an unfamiliar behavioral option - an experimental approach to the study of neuroenhancement},
  series = {Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy},
  volume    = {8},
  journal   = {Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy},
  number    = {23},
  publisher = {BioMed Central},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {1747-597X},
  doi       = {10.1186/1747-597X-8-41},
  pages     = {6},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Background: Neuroenhancement (NE), the use of psychoactive substances in order to enhance a healthy individual's cognitive functioning from a proficient to an even higher level, is prevalent in student populations. According to the strength model of self-control, people fail to self-regulate and fall back on their dominant behavioral response when finite self-control resources are depleted. An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that ego-depletion will prevent students who are unfamiliar with NE from trying it. Findings: 130 undergraduates, who denied having tried NE before (43\% female, mean age = 22.76 +/- 4.15 years old), were randomly assigned to either an ego-depletion or a control condition. The dependent variable was taking an "energy-stick" (a legal nutritional supplement, containing low doses of caffeine, taurine and vitamin B), offered as a potential means of enhancing performance on the bogus concentration task that followed. Logistic regression analysis showed that ego-depleted participants were three times less likely to take the substance, OR = 0.37, p = .01. Conclusion: This experiment found that trying NE for the first time was more likely if an individual's cognitive capacities were not depleted. This means that mental exhaustion is not predictive for NE in students for whom NE is not the dominant response. Trying NE for the first time is therefore more likely to occur as a thoughtful attempt at self-regulation than as an automatic behavioral response in stressful situations. We therefore recommend targeting interventions at this inter-individual difference. Students without previous reinforcing NE experience should be provided with information about the possible negative health outcomes of NE. Reconfiguring structural aspects in the academic environment (e.g. lessening workloads) might help to deter current users.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{WolffBrand2013,
  author    = {Wolff, Wanja and Brand, Ralf},
  title     = {Subjective stressors in school and their relation to neuroenhancement a behavioral perspective on students' everyday life "doping"},
  series = {Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy},
  volume    = {8},
  journal   = {Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy},
  publisher = {BioMed Central},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {1747-597X},
  doi       = {10.1186/1747-597X-8-23},
  pages     = {6},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Background: The use of psychoactive substances to neuroenhance cognitive performance is prevalent. Neuroenhancement (NE) in everyday life and doping in sport might rest on similar attitudinal representations, and both behaviors can be theoretically modeled by comparable means-to-end relations (substance-performance). A behavioral (not substance-based) definition of NE is proposed, with assumed functionality as its core component. It is empirically tested whether different NE variants (lifestyle drug, prescription drug, and illicit substance) can be regressed to school stressors. Findings: Participants were 519 students (25.8 +/- 8.4 years old, 73.1\% female). Logistic regressions indicate that a modified doping attitude scale can predict all three NE variants. Multiple NE substance abuse was frequent. Overwhelming demands in school were associated with lifestyle and prescription drug NE. Conclusions: Researchers should be sensitive for probable structural similarities between enhancement in everyday life and sport and systematically explore where findings from one domain can be adapted for the other. Policy makers should be aware that students might misperceive NE as an acceptable means of coping with stress in school, and help to form societal sensitivity for the topic of NE among our younger ones in general.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{WolffBrand2013,
  author    = {Wolff, Wanja and Brand, Ralf},
  title     = {Subjective stressors in school and their relation to neuroenhancement},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-401131},
  pages     = {6},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Background: The use of psychoactive substances to neuroenhance cognitive performance is prevalent. Neuroenhancement (NE) in everyday life and doping in sport might rest on similar attitudinal representations, and both behaviors can be theoretically modeled by comparable means-to-end relations (substance-performance). A behavioral (not substance-based) definition of NE is proposed, with assumed functionality as its core component. It is empirically tested whether different NE variants (lifestyle drug, prescription drug, and illicit substance) can be regressed to school stressors. Findings: Participants were 519 students (25.8 +/- 8.4 years old, 73.1\% female). Logistic regressions indicate that a modified doping attitude scale can predict all three NE variants. Multiple NE substance abuse was frequent. Overwhelming demands in school were associated with lifestyle and prescription drug NE. Conclusions: Researchers should be sensitive for probable structural similarities between enhancement in everyday life and sport and systematically explore where findings from one domain can be adapted for the other. Policy makers should be aware that students might misperceive NE as an acceptable means of coping with stress in school, and help to form societal sensitivity for the topic of NE among our younger ones in general.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{WolffBaumgartenBrand2013,
  author    = {Wolff, Wanja and Baumgarten, Franz and Brand, Ralf},
  title     = {Reduced self-control leads to disregard of an unfamiliar behavioral option},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-401386},
  pages     = {6},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Background: Neuroenhancement (NE), the use of psychoactive substances in order to enhance a healthy individual's cognitive functioning from a proficient to an even higher level, is prevalent in student populations. According to the strength model of self-control, people fail to self-regulate and fall back on their dominant behavioral response when finite self-control resources are depleted. An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that ego-depletion will prevent students who are unfamiliar with NE from trying it. Findings: 130 undergraduates, who denied having tried NE before (43\% female, mean age = 22.76 +/- 4.15 years old), were randomly assigned to either an ego-depletion or a control condition. The dependent variable was taking an "energy-stick" (a legal nutritional supplement, containing low doses of caffeine, taurine and vitamin B), offered as a potential means of enhancing performance on the bogus concentration task that followed. Logistic regression analysis showed that ego-depleted participants were three times less likely to take the substance, OR = 0.37, p = .01. Conclusion: This experiment found that trying NE for the first time was more likely if an individual's cognitive capacities were not depleted. This means that mental exhaustion is not predictive for NE in students for whom NE is not the dominant response. Trying NE for the first time is therefore more likely to occur as a thoughtful attempt at self-regulation than as an automatic behavioral response in stressful situations. We therefore recommend targeting interventions at this inter-individual difference. Students without previous reinforcing NE experience should be provided with information about the possible negative health outcomes of NE. Reconfiguring structural aspects in the academic environment (e.g. lessening workloads) might help to deter current users.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{WolffSandouqaBrand2016,
  author    = {Wolff, Wanja and Sandouqa, Yaser and Brand, Ralf},
  title     = {Using, the simple sample count to estimate the frequency of prescription drug neuroenhancement in a sample of Jordan employees},
  series = {International journal of drug policy},
  volume    = {31},
  journal   = {International journal of drug policy},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {0955-3959},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.12.014},
  pages     = {51 -- 55},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Background: Epidemiological research indicates that the use of prescription drugs to enhance cognitive functioning is prevalent in Western countries, however, research on this phenomenon in Arab countries is lacking. Our study aimed to investigate the frequency of neuroenhancement (NE) using prescription drugs in a sample of employees in Jordan. Methods: A sample of 1186 employees (37.11 +/- 8.37 years old, 495 female), of whom 723 (35.65 +/- 7.53 years old, 396 female) served as teachers, completed a paper-pencil questionnaire. The single sample count technique (SSC) was used in order to secure confidential, self-reporting of prescription drug NE. Results: The 12-month prevalence of NE, estimated with the SSC was 15.43\%. At 26.16\%, the prevalence estimate was markedly higher in the subsample of teachers compared to non-teachers, 0.29\%. Surprisingly, 336 participants did not use the SSC and directly affirmed or denied prescription drug NE. These direct responses yielded a prevalence of 11.57\% for the full sample, 9.73\% for the teachers and 15.60\% for the non-teachers. Conclusion: This is the first study of the frequency of NE in an Arab sample. Results indicate that the use of prescription drug NE is not limited to Western countries and that teachers in Jordan might constitute a high-risk population. Further, participants seem to differ in their use of indirect estimation methods for reporting prescription drug NE. For future research, it might be useful to triangulate standard self reports and indirect estimation methods to assess NE. Possible cultural differences and specific high-risk populations for NE should be investigated further. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{WolffBrandBaumgartenetal.2017,
  author    = {Wolff, Wanja and Brand, Ralf and Baumgarten, Franz and L{\"o}sel, Johanna and Ziegler, Matthias},
  title     = {Modeling students' instrumental (mis-)use of substances to enhance cognitive performance},
  issn      = {1866-8364},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-401441},
  pages     = {11},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Background: Healthy university students have been shown to use psychoactive substances, expecting them to be functional means for enhancing their cognitive capacity, sometimes over and above an essentially proficient level. This behavior called Neuroenhancement (NE) has not yet been integrated into a behavioral theory that is able to predict performance. Job Demands Resources (JD-R) Theory for example assumes that strain (e.g. burnout) will occur and influence performance when job demands are high and job resources are limited at the same time. The aim of this study is to investigate whether or not university students' self-reported NE can be integrated into JD-R Theory's comprehensive approach to psychological health and performance. Methods: 1,007 students (23.56 ± 3.83 years old, 637 female) participated in an online survey. Lifestyle drug, prescription drug, and illicit substance NE together with the complete set of JD-R variables (demands, burnout, resources, motivation, and performance) were measured. Path models were used in order to test our data's fit to hypothesized main effects and interactions. Results: JD-R Theory could successfully be applied to describe the situation of university students. NE was mainly associated with the JD-R Theory's health impairment process: Lifestyle drug NE (p < .05) as well as prescription drug NE (p < .001) is associated with higher burnout scores, and lifestyle drug NE aggravates the study demands-burnout interaction. In addition, prescription drug NE mitigates the protective influence of resources on burnout and on motivation. Conclusion: According to our results, the uninformed trying of NE (i.e., without medical supervision) might result in strain. Increased strain is related to decreased performance. From a public health perspective, intervention strategies should address these costs of non-supervised NE. With regard to future research we propose to model NE as a means to reach an end (i.e. performance enhancement) rather than a target behavior itself. This is necessary to provide a deeper understanding of the behavioral roots and consequences of the phenomenon.},
  language  = {en}
}