Caffeine helps preserve memories. People who consumed caffeine after viewing the images remembered them better after 24 hours.
It has long been known that coffee is the best friend of students who have to study at night, as well as people who work for many hours in a row. A new study, published by Nature Neuroscience, found that caffeine (one or two cups of coffee per day) improves long-term memory. The good news also applies to lovers of tea and other drinks containing caffeine. Of course, here it is important to know the measure.
The authors of the study was a group of scientists at the American University of Johns Hopkins, led by Michael Yassa: “We always knew that caffeine has a positive effect on the cognitive abilities of a person. But his ability to preserve memories, making them more stable and less susceptible to oblivion, has never been studied in detail in the scientific community, ”said Iasi.
Coffee experiment
Scientists organized a “double-blind” study (neither the subjects nor the experimenters themselves knew in advance which indicators would process) over 100 volunteers.
The experiment was as follows: first, all participants were shown different images, and then five minutes later they were given a placebo or a tablet containing 200 mg of caffeine (equivalent to 2 cups of coffee). However, none of the volunteers regularly took products containing caffeine. Previously, saliva samples were taken from volunteers in order to determine the “baseline” level of caffeine in the body. Then, such samples were taken one, three, and 24 hours after the experiment.
The next day, both groups of participants were invited to evaluate how well they remembered the images shown to them the day before. At this stage of the experiment, completely new images were additionally used, as well as images similar, but not identical, to those presented the previous day.
And here the “espresso effect” showed itself: in the “caffeine” group they gave the right answers and avoided the traps of similar images more people compared to the group that did not use caffeine.
Memory
The brain’s ability to distinguish between similar, but not identical, subjects belongs to a deeper level of preservation of memories, the researchers explain. And it seems that caffeine acts in this direction.
“In almost all previous studies, caffeine was given to volunteers before the start of the experiment. Therefore, it was not obvious what exactly it affects: attention, observation, focus, or any other qualities. Having taken caffeine after the experiment, we eliminated all possible doubts: the improvement of indicators is connected with memory, and with nothing else, ”Iassa assured. “Our next step will be the study of brain mechanisms based on the identified improvements,” the scientist continued. “For myself, I learned from this study that I should continue to drink my favorite coffee.
Our experience has shown improvements in memory; according to other studies, caffeine helps increase longevity and better resistance to Alzheimer's disease and other diseases associated with cognitive impairment. So in moderation, coffee is obviously healthy. ”
