Afterwards, people responded faster and had stronger short-term memory.
The caffeine in two cups of coffee is enough to jump start short-term memory.
Short-term memory is the type used for keeping things in consciousness for a short period.
Dr. Koppelstätter, the study’s first author, said it is…
“…like looking up a telephone number in the phone book and storing the number until you’ve dialed it.”
For the research, 15 people were given either the equivalent of two cups of coffee or a placebo, then asked to do a standard memory test.
Those given caffeine responded faster and had stronger short-term memory.
Brain scans also revealed that caffeine was linked to higher activation of the frontal lobes, where working memory is partly located.
Dr. Koppelstätter said:
“What is exciting is that by means of fMRI we are able to see that caffeine exerts increases in neuronal activity in distinct parts of the brain going along with changes in behavior.”
The study was published in the journal Neuroimage (Koppelstätter et al., 2008).
