The aid item, "Mentats" or "Mentat's Tablets" is a reference to the famous science fiction novel series by Frank Herbert titled Dune. Mentats are "human computers" -- people who are trained and molded with the abilities to filter and process data with extraordinary precision and speed. Such people came about in the series due to the "Butlerian Jihad" or "Machine Crusade" where thinking machines became the enemy of the human race.