Caffeine Can Help Strengthen Memory Function
Statistics claim that Americans consume around 400 million cups of coffee per day, making the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the world. Some people drink coffee religiously, saying that it helps them wake up in the morning or that it helps them focus. But exactly how effective is coffee? Professor Yassa and her team at John Hopkins University sought to answer this question by testing how useful coffee could be in strengthening memory function.
To test the effect of coffee on memory function, they recruited participants and had them study a number of images. Five minutes after being shown the images, participants were randomly divided into two groups and given either a 200-milligram caffeine tablet (equivalent to one strong cup of coffee) or a placebo. Prior to administration of the caffeine tablet or the placebo, all participants provided saliva samples to determine their baseline caffeine levels. Saliva samples were once again taken at one, three, and 24 hours after administration of the tablet or placebo. The next day, all participants in both the control and treatment groups were brought back and were tested on their ability to remember the images they saw the day before. They were tested on their recognition ability on a set of images containing the following: the same images they were presented to the day before, new images that were new to all the participants, and images that were similar to the images they saw the day before, but not identical.
To test the effect of coffee on memory function, they recruited participants and had them study a number of images. Five minutes after being shown the images, participants were randomly divided into two groups and given either a 200-milligram caffeine tablet (equivalent to one strong cup of coffee) or a placebo. Prior to administration of the caffeine tablet or the placebo, all participants provided saliva samples to determine their baseline caffeine levels. Saliva samples were once again taken at one, three, and 24 hours after administration of the tablet or placebo. The next day, all participants in both the control and treatment groups were brought back and were tested on their ability to remember the images they saw the day before. They were tested on their recognition ability on a set of images containing the following: the same images they were presented to the day before, new images that were new to all the participants, and images that were similar to the images they saw the day before, but not identical.
Image Source: Jasmin Merdan
Results showed that caffeine enhanced memory performance 24 hours after it was administered. However, this improvement in memory was specific to consolidation and not retrieval. This means that the memories were better stabilized or strengthened in the brain, but the ability to re-access the memories was not affected. Therefore, more members of the caffeine group were able to identify correctly the new images as being similar to previously viewed images rather than incorrectly citing them as being the same. This study was unique because it administered the caffeine tablet after participants had viewed and attempted to memorize the images shown. Previous studies have administered the caffeine before the image study session, causing the results to be inconclusive because the researchers could not tell if the enhancement in memory was due to the caffeine itself or to other confounding variables, such as the participant’s attention, vigilance, focus, or other factors. Therefore, the results from this study more accurately represent caffeine's effect on memory, since it removed those external factors and allowed researchers to conclude that the memory enhancement was due solely to caffeine intake.
The results of this study should encourage others to drink a cup of coffee to help improve their memories and give everyday coffee drinkers a greater appreciation for the drink and another reason to enjoy their daily coffee.
The results of this study should encourage others to drink a cup of coffee to help improve their memories and give everyday coffee drinkers a greater appreciation for the drink and another reason to enjoy their daily coffee.
Featured Image Source: Viktor Hanacek
RELATED ARTICLES
|
Vertical Divider
|
Vertical Divider
|
Vertical Divider
|
