Lion's mane → Cognitive performance
Higher Lion's mane moves Cognitive performance only in some conditions. Read the mechanism.
Mori 2009 found that 3 g a day of Yamabushitake powder for sixteen weeks raised Revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale scores versus placebo in 30 people with mild cognitive impairment; scores fell after the powder stopped. Docherty 2023 saw a faster Stroop after one 1.8 g dose in 41 young adults and little chronic change.
Randomized trial · Contested · N=30
Supported by an experiment or a tightly identified design. Read the caveats.
Mechanism
Authors treat Hericium erinaceus as a source of hericenones and erinacines. They do not isolate one molecule. Mori, Inatomi, Ouchi, Azumi and Tuchida assigned 30 people with mild cognitive impairment to 3 g a day of dry powder or placebo for sixteen weeks. Hasegawa scores rose versus placebo at weeks 8, 12, and 16 and fell four weeks after stopping. Docherty, Doughty and Smith assigned 41 healthy adults aged 18 to 45 to 1.8 g a day or placebo. One dose sped the Stroop at 60 minutes (P=0.005). After 28 days, stress trended down (P=0.051). Other tasks were null or thin. Pilot. Surendran, Saye, Jalil and colleagues crossed 18 healthy adults aged 18 to 35 through 3 g of a 10:1 fruiting-body extract and placebo. Global cognition and mood did not move at 90 minutes. A pegboard score did.
Caveats
Researchers assigned people to a mushroom or a control, so this is a trial stamp. The files are small. More papers of the same design do not settle the claim. Mori is 30 people and a dementia screen. Docherty is a pilot with mixed nulls. Surendran is 18 people and one task. This is a journal entry, not medical advice and not a reason to take a mushroom for memory.
Effect
qualitative. Mori 2009: 3 g/d powder, 16 wk, N=30 MCI, HDS-R vs placebo weeks 8-16; fell after stop. Docherty 2023: 1.8 g, N=41, acute Stroop faster; 28-d stress P=0.051. Surendran 2025: 3 g extract, N=18, global ns.
Nodes
Named confounders
Cite this page
What Causes What. “Lion's mane → Cognitive performance.” https://whatcauseswhat.org/edges/e-lions-mane-cognition (atlas updated 2026-09-02).
Papers
- Improving effects of the mushroom Yamabushitake (Hericium erinaceus) on mild cognitive impairment: a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial.
K Mori, S Inatomi, K Ouchi, Y Azumi, T Tuchida · 2009 · Phytotherapy research : PTR
- The Acute and Chronic Effects of Lion's Mane Mushroom Supplementation on Cognitive Function, Stress and Mood in Young Adults: A Double-Blind, Parallel Groups, Pilot Study.
S Docherty, FL Doughty, EF Smith · 2023 · Nutrients
- Acute effects of a standardised extract of Hericium erinaceus (Lion's Mane mushroom) on cognition and mood in healthy younger adults: a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled study.
G Surendran, J Saye, S Binti Mohd Jalil, J Spreadborough, K Duong, IM Shatwan, D Lilley, M Heinrich · 2025 · Frontiers in nutrition