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View Full Version : Caffeine perks up brain's memory centres - study


Ambrosio Spinola
12-01-2005, 10:53 AM
I guess we found the cure for weed short term memory loss :D

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2005-11-30T200328Z_01_MAR072128_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-CAFFEINE.XML&archived=False

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Brain scans confirm what many coffee drinkers already know -- caffeine perks them up.

The caffeine found in coffee, tea, soft drinks and chocolate stimulates areas of the brain governing short-term memory and attention, Austrian researchers said on Wednesday.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging scans performed on the brains of 15 subjects who had just consumed caffeine equal to that found in two cups of coffee showed increased activity in the frontal lobe where the working memory is located and in the anterior cingulum that controls attention.

"We are able to see that caffeine exerts increases in neuronal activity in distinct parts of the brain going along with changes in behaviour," said Austrian researcher Dr. Florian Koppelstatter of the Medical University Innsbruck.

Participants who were subjected to a 12-hour period without caffeine and a four-hour period without nicotine, another recognised stimulant found in cigarettes, were better able to remember a sequence of letters after consuming 100 milligrams of caffeine. Reaction times on short-term memory tests also improved.

Caffeine is the world's most widely used stimulant, according to the research presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Global daily consumption of caffeine averages 76 milligrams, equal to 1 1/2 cups of coffee. In the United States, average consumption is 238 milligrams per day, equal to that found in 4 1/2 cups of java.

Excorcism
12-01-2005, 04:31 PM
In the United States, average consumption is 238 milligrams per day, equal to that found in 4 1/2 cups of java.


I normally don't drink coffee...so that means there may be some poor bastard who drinks 10 cups of java a day :D

Ixtab
12-01-2005, 04:48 PM
Of course it improves your memory. I've already known this from experience.

Berianidze
12-01-2005, 07:02 PM
Of course it improves your memory. I've already known this from experience.

Yes I've experienced this too, I usually drink 6-8 cups of coffee a day and then at least 2 at night.

daisy
12-01-2005, 08:42 PM
it improves your memory
most everytime i take my dark sunglasses off for a second i often forget where i put them. good thing i got 4 pairs of dark sunglasses.
i better go buy me some coffee!

Petyr Baelish
12-02-2005, 12:37 AM
Actually all psychostimulants improve cognitive functioning to some extent, at least while one is under their influence. I would say that methylphenidate is far superior to caffeine in this regard, and offers the best compromise between potency (methamphetamine is the strongest known psychostimulant, but is neurotoxic and relatively addictive) and safety (caffeine is not neurotoxic nor particularly addictive but doesn't give one much of a cognitive boost either).

Sinclair
12-02-2005, 12:47 AM
All I know is that I get super talkative when I take caffeine pills. Can't stand coffee.

Helios Panoptes
12-02-2005, 02:27 AM
Actually all psychostimulants improve cognitive functioning to some extent, at least while one is under their influence. I would say that methylphenidate is far superior to caffeine in this regard

On that note, kids are taking Adderall prior to taking the GRE.

Péter
12-02-2005, 02:53 AM
Caffeine will one day become more socially deleterious than alcohol.

Excorcism
12-02-2005, 04:09 AM
On that note, kids are taking Adderall prior to taking the GRE.

If a kid was to take Adderall prior to the LSAT, he would crash by the 4th hour (as the test can officially take 7 hours from the appointed time).

Helios Panoptes
12-02-2005, 04:25 AM
If a kid was to take Adderall prior to the LSAT, he would crash by the 4th hour (as the test can officially take 7 hours from the appointed time).

Maybe the test is not that long or they take a higher dosage or there's a time release capsule. I have no idea, really.

Péter
12-02-2005, 04:32 AM
The GRE wasn't that long... :rolleyes:

Petyr Baelish
12-03-2005, 01:20 AM
On that note, kids are taking Adderall prior to taking the GRE.


Not surprising. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde during a six-day cocaine binge.

Excorcism
12-03-2005, 04:31 AM
The GRE wasn't that long... :rolleyes:

The LSAT is supposed to take 3 and a half hours, so hopefully it stays that way, but officially, it can take about 7 hours max (administrative stuff)