Comment · Sat, March 9, 2013 · Ceretropic
Stimulants, slow thought, and stimulant-bacopa interactions
Original post in this thread
IanA87 · 26 points
I have noticed that stimulants, while increasing my focus, decrease my ability to monitor and direct my own thought processes and think clearly. This problem is exacerbated by anxiety, and I believe that it stems from anxiety. For example, in a classroom setting the explanations I give to classmates pertain to the inner workings of some algorithm or protocol. I can explain them well in this setting, but the same questions when asked on a test become difficult if not impossible for me to answer. They are (I am pausing now, for over a minute... this is another problem ...) specific to the detailed instructions given in the question, and I cannot even parse the question correctly, and sometimes I cannot parse it at all. Indeed, questions that are testing my knowledge, e.g., "what is the advantage of A over B?" receive quick answers, and I generally get full credit. The problem, I believe, that this test anxiety poses is that it greatly inhibits my working memory.
I believe there are herbs that may help in this area, but it is very difficult for me to assess this, and I am reticent to actually try any unless someone else has been in a similar situation, tried them, and not had any is…
What they were answering
IanA87 · 6 points
This is going to be a very long post. I will not only touch on what you have said, but will also identify more fundamental issues that I think must be investigated to solve my problem--a problem I feel a large number of people have.
On your post: I agree that many tests--even those at the graduate level--are very poorly formulated. Knowledge questions are generally fine, but questions that require problem solving are often formed by creating odd scenarios combined with counter-intuitive notations. Still, the fact that some people do not get tripped up by these questions means there is some way to interpret them 'correctly'. If the question is not explicit and consistent with its terminology and notation, I cannot do what these people seem to be able to do. Essentially, I read such questions and either interpret it in my own way or fail to interpret it at all. This also happens if I later ask someone to explain the question to me: they explain it over and over, but it does not sink in because it does not make sense to me why someone would ask such a question.
(As one example, there was a question for network security that dealt with diffie-hellman, a protocol that is meant to allow two parties to establish a shared secret across an insecure communication medium. I understand the protocol well, and also the mathematics that go behind its security. The question, however,…
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
The question, however, asked us to prove our understanding of diffie-hellman not by explaining and demonstrating the protocol, but by computing a secret value given only the public values.
There's the real issue. They are not quantifying your knowledge of anything by forming the question in that manner. I assume if they ran some psychometric analysis of the beta exam, they would find that item did not differentiate the candidate's skill levels. This is why we run that analysis of the betas, so that we can drop items that do not meet the requirements. However, many companies, and even more schools, simply do not do this. Most don't even know this is a thing. Large companies pay us lots of money to ensure their certification programs are solid, because they can be sued if they are not. Schools don't even really give a shit about this, or know it is a necessary part of exam development.
Questions are poorly formed, but it should be possible to parse them nonetheless.
No, you cannot be expected to be anything and everything. That is not your job in an exam. That is my job. Stop placing that burden on yourself.
My hypothesis is that the accelerated heart rate from Concerta serves makes me spend inadequate time getting to the core of a test question, which then scares and frustrates me, accelerating my heart rate even further.
Most definitely that is causing you issues. Many stimulants can exacerbate anxiety.
Of course, I do not go out of control and have a full-blown panic attack, but it is enough to make me take a long time to answer the question (which itself means I have less time to review, and this only makes the entire situation worse), and to answer it using my own interpretation--one that is uninformed by the syntax and semantics of the question itself.
Just by the phrasing of this explanation, I can see how your brain spirals. You need to find a way to stop that cycle before it affects your cognition. This is going to be more of a procedural solution than a pharmacological one. Don't read the question and start analyzing immediately. What you should try and do, and it may sound stupid, but you need to act like the person that wrote that question is an absolute idiot. Then you need to pick apart why that question is flawed. You don't have to worry yourself over it, just do it pragmatically. Then you need to pick the simplest aspect of the question, and relate it to the topic at hand. Don't over-think the phrasing. Don't over-analyze what they are trying to ask you. Find the simplest concept in the mess of that question written by a monkey, and that is your answer. Pick the option that best fits that very basic concept and move on to the next question. It sounds stupid, but it's as simple as that.
What neurotransmitters are responsible for modulating the quality of these elements and the duration they persist in working memory? How does synaptic plasticity and density of connections play into this, and how can it be affected to a degree that is noticeable. I think these are extremely important questions to answer.
You are asking the quintessential questions of neurochemistry. We are not there yet. We cannot answer those high level processing questions at this time. The mechanisms are too complex to just point to one system and nail down a cause. I am very good at the aspects you are describing. I can take any abstract thought and break it into a million pieces, then form those pieces into new thoughts from different perspectives. I have whole conversations with myself about issues in my head, altering the perspective of my conscious thought for each idea. I'm not schizophrenic, because it is always the same "me" behind these thoughts. However, I can break myself out of a single perspective and look at an issue from many different facets. I have not figured out how my brain can do this from a mechanical perspective. This is when a more metaphysical approach can help make sense of your processing of information. The more we learn, the closer we can get to the actual pharmacological understanding of that high level process. For now, all I can give you is postulations.