I actually did a test myself with pot a while back, also playing against a computer, my thinking there was that it would provide the most consistent opponent skill level. I tried varying amounts. I saw a fairly significant improvement with small doses, less than what someone would use for entertainment purposes, an amount just before what could be called a high. I think it may increase concentration at the right dosa…
Is it possible the advantage was related to something like creativity or insight?
Other hypothesis: any improvement in mood may positively impact your ability to think for long stretches of time.
No, I was just commenting that the title of the article was misleading to me. The study didn't find performance enhancing drugs, it found a link between drugs that allegedly enhance cognitive performance and an activity that requires high cognitive performance. Perhaps it's just semantics, but the findings of the study just weren't the type that I expected based on the title.
And your initial comment sounded to me like you were taking it for granted that such drugs do indeed enhance cognitive performance - which I don't think is a given.
I had the same confusion. I would have then said "New Study Finds Evidence for Cognitive Performance-Enhancing Drugs: They Help with Chess" or something. The way "for Chess" is tacked on the end makes it seem like the most important detail: I would argue just reading this title would make one go "oh, I guess we already had these for other tasks, but this is the first one for Chess". In fact, as worded, my second option was "what they really mean is that people are using them in the wild and they are what is making or breaking tournements", not "we have just discovered it is possible".
A few years ago I discovered CogniTea[1]. It's a tea blend that puts 90mg of caffeine, 100mg of L-Theanine and some gingko and such in every tea bag. Best stimulant I've ever used. So I guess I'm on 400mg+ of Theanine per day. Have been for 2 or 3 years. :D I suggest giving it a shot. I got the entire office hooked. My favorite part is that when I travel and don't drink it, there's no headache. Sure, feels like brain…
How many strokes have there been in your office? Ginkgo is not something I would widely suggest to people without knowing how robust their circulatory system is...
I thought from reading about stimulants that Ginko was mild, bordering on placebo.
Ginko turned out to be extremely scary for me. Racing thoughts and intense nightmares every day. I will not take it.
Discarding losses on time could plausibly be the bulk of the effect. I can improve my chess rating in short time controls by a good 50+ points just by reminding myself to move quickly.
True. Also, people tend to take more time when in losing positions, so it is likely that more of the discarded games than the not-discarded games would have been lost.
It would be very interesting to see a computer analysis of position strength in the discarded games and seeing, where possible, if the ratios of "likely win" and "likely loss" match the games that were finished.
Why is it surprising that nootropics exist? Half the good people in tech are on them. And there's nothing fucking wrong with that. "My body, my choice", as the slogan goes.
ah, such a typical answer from an "up in there" person. Been there, done that, including the 15 h days constantly, the fixing everybody's shit at 5 am, you name it. Was the period I was the most insufferable person around. Try getting off them and then we see how good you are. Your attention span will be reduced way below what you used to have before (unless you actually had ADHD before this) and your motivation will…
Thoughts are mainly about work and problems that I need to solve. When I am trying to sleep, I will sometimes work on a problem in my head because it's "bothering me", and this can postpone my sleep by up to an hour. This happened to me a lot in college on homework sets. Some sets would take hours to complete, and if I could not solve a problem before sleeping, I would "give up" and go to sleep, only to continue thin…
keep thinking softly to fell asleep in a vivid dream and solve the problem
Too meta, cannot stop thinking about how much meta...
I've been taking 400mg of Magnesium Glycinate two times a day along with 200mg of Theanine (also twice a day) with my usual two cups of coffee. I feel fantastically focused without the jittery edge that accompanies caffeine alone.
Beyond that, I wouldn't be surprised if the glycine along with the magnesium had neuro-inhibitory effect. Supplementation with gelatin might be worth trying for you. https://www.google.com/search?q=glycine%20in%20gelatin I put collagen hydrolysate in my coffee and I think it's pretty great.
Anecdotal: I used to play chess frequently against a friend, who smoked pot pretty regularly. When he was sober, I usually would win. When he was starting to get high, he would usually win. When he was fully not sober, we would usually tie. I do not smoke, so I was always sober during these games.
So you're suggesting there's something analagous to the Ballmer Peak but for pot?
Jokes aside, alcohol and, pot it seems, inhibit the brains ability to process complex things. This mean you're more likely to abandon ideas that are too complex to handle anyway, and thus cover more ideas that you can handle.
How do they know it's not due to confidence boost? These drugs can make you feel "good" and confident, which all top competitors spend a lot of time trying to build up.
From the publication:
> We conducted a phase IV, single-center, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled 4 x 4 crossover trial.
I assume it means that the control group gets placebo, so it's controlled for confidence boost.