<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 8:46 AM, Dan TheBookMan <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:danust2012@gmail.com" target="_blank">danust2012@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><div><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12152-015-9232-9?utm_campaign=CON31776_1&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=email&wt_mc=email.newsletter.8.CON31776.internal_1" target="_blank">https://link.springer.com/<wbr>article/10.1007/s12152-015-<wbr>9232-9</a></div><div><br></div><div>Takeaway: "... <span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">the overall evidence is far from conclusive that these drugs actually improve cognitive function in the cognitively normal."</span></div><div><br><div><div style="line-height:normal"><div style="line-height:normal"><span style="line-height:20px;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Regards,</span></div><div style="line-height:normal"><span style="line-height:20px;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br></span></div><div><div style="line-height:normal"><span style="line-height:20px;background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Dan</span></div><div style="line-height:normal"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> <br></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">The problems with these studies</div> <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">are many. First, they give drugs to very heterogeneous samples composed, say, of introverts and extroverts. Give those caffeine, say, and you will get widely different results. Ignore that variable and you will get an average of no difference.</div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline"><br></div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">Another is diagnostic criteria: the way such things as ADD or ADHD are diagnosed is way too widely variable, and so studies are not comparable.</div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline"><br></div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">I think most of us know people who have been helped by Ritalin - I do - my granddaughter for one. But it's not going to help everyone you give it to if you are not very careful in your selection of your sample.</div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline"><br></div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">Classic study: a group was given a memory task and half were tested an hour later, and half 24 hours later. There was no difference in memory. Then the group was split into introvert and extrovert and lo and behold, the extroverts remembered better an hour later, and the introverts a day later. But toss all the data in one pot and you find out nothing.</div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline"><br></div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0);display:inline">bill w</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div><div><div><div style="line-height:normal"><div><div style="line-height:normal"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"></span></div></div></div><div><div style="line-height:normal"></div></div></div></div></div></div><br>______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
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