Do you start your day with a fresh, steaming cup of coffee? Do you drink coffee to satisfy your addictive craze? Do you need caffeine to keep you awake? Caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world, consumed by some 80 percent of American adults every day. Caffeine generally improves alertness and reaction time, but evidence is inconclusive for its effect on higher memory and reasoning processes.
Smith (2012) compared those who received caffeinated coffee had significantly faster simple reaction times than those who received de-caffeinated coffee. In the categoric search task, the effect of caffeine on the difference score measuring reaction time to alternations as opposed to repetitions was significant. Those who received a de- caffeinated …show more content…
That is, subjects correctly recalled the same number of words regardless of whether they had received caffeine at one session, both sessions or neither sessions. Thus, caffeine neither produced any facilitation (or harm) to learning or memory, nor did it induce dissociative effects. Smith, Sturgess, and Gallagher (1999) did multiple tests but when it came to free recall there was no effect of caffeine on the task. Nehlig (2010) uncovered that caffeine does not seem to consistently improve immediate free recall of words, letters and digits. Caffeine facilitates performance in tasks involving working memory to a limited extent, but hinders performance in tasks that heavily depend on working memory.
Building on these ideas, the present study will attempt to provide understanding in to the effect of caffeine on the human memory. One group of participants will receive no caffeine for the free recall test. A second group will do the free recall task will receive 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine that’s roughly the amount of caffeine in four cups of brewed coffee, 10 cans of cola or two "energy shot" drinks. It is hypothesized that caffeine’s effect will be an increase on human
Smith (2012) compared those who received caffeinated coffee had significantly faster simple reaction times than those who received de-caffeinated coffee. In the categoric search task, the effect of caffeine on the difference score measuring reaction time to alternations as opposed to repetitions was significant. Those who received a de- caffeinated …show more content…
That is, subjects correctly recalled the same number of words regardless of whether they had received caffeine at one session, both sessions or neither sessions. Thus, caffeine neither produced any facilitation (or harm) to learning or memory, nor did it induce dissociative effects. Smith, Sturgess, and Gallagher (1999) did multiple tests but when it came to free recall there was no effect of caffeine on the task. Nehlig (2010) uncovered that caffeine does not seem to consistently improve immediate free recall of words, letters and digits. Caffeine facilitates performance in tasks involving working memory to a limited extent, but hinders performance in tasks that heavily depend on working memory.
Building on these ideas, the present study will attempt to provide understanding in to the effect of caffeine on the human memory. One group of participants will receive no caffeine for the free recall test. A second group will do the free recall task will receive 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine that’s roughly the amount of caffeine in four cups of brewed coffee, 10 cans of cola or two "energy shot" drinks. It is hypothesized that caffeine’s effect will be an increase on human