Coffee may boost brain’s ability to store long-term memories

Blog Post #2:
Long- term Memory

This week for my blog, I have chosen an article published by The Guardian that illustrates how long term memory can be affected. Specifically, this article illustrates how caffeine may affect the brain’s ability to store long term memories. According to Ian Sample, science correspondent for The Guardian newspaper, “People who had a shot of caffeine after looking at a series of pictures were better at distinguishing them from similar images in tests the next day”. (Sample, 2014)

In order to study this relationship the scientists collected 44 volunteers who are moderate caffeine consumers that abstained from caffeine for about one day. The volunteers were then shown a sequence of pictures that included a hammer, a chair, an apple, a seahorse, a rubber duck, and a car. The participants were not asked to memorize these pictures, but were to say whether the object was normally found indoors or outdoors. After the completion of the indoor or outdoor task, the participants were randomly assigned either a 200mg caffeine pill or a placebo. The relationship between the caffeine pill and the average cup of coffee is about 50mg more. (Sample, 2014)

The next day the volunteers were brought back to review another sequence of images that included many that they had seen the day before, new ones, and others that were similar. The task was to figure out which was new, old, or similar. The researcher Michael Yassa stated, “The caffeine and placebo groups scored the same except when it came to spotting the similar images.” What caught my attention was how the caffeine group scored around 10% higher than the placebo group when spotting similar images. (Sample, 2014)

I think this article relates to lesson 8, Long-term Memory: Encoding and Retrieval because of the way the study uses imagery and repetition that could possibly prove caffeine could be another factor that influence the process and the strength of our LTM. In my opinion, the study could be improved by having a longer duration, and a larger sample of volunteers.

Sample, Ian. “Coffee May Boost Brain’s Ability to Store Long-term Memories, Study Claims.” Http://www.theguardian.com/. The Guardian, 12 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

5 thoughts on “Coffee may boost brain’s ability to store long-term memories

  1. Mercedes Paola Huamani Meza

    I’m an avid coffee drinker and a big fan of energy drinks.

    Lesson 8, Long Term Memory covered Encoding and Retrieval in depth. However, it did not discussed stimulants and their effects on long term memory. So it was very interesting to read your post and learn of studies being conducted on the effect of caffeine to Long Term Memory.

    Your article talks about the positive effects or enhancements that caffeine can provide, but it doesn’t actually say how it affects it exactly. I was curious, so I found an article that conducted a similar study, which included more participants and a long period of time. The article actually discusses “possibilities as to how caffeine may enhance long-term memory” (Whiteman, 2014). The article mentions that “it may block a molecule called adenosine, preventing it from stopping the function of norepinephrine – a hormone that has been shown to have positive effects on memory” (Whiteman, 2014).

    I also noticed that the study you referred to described effects as they pertained to ingestion of 200 mg of caffeine. The article I read expanded on that detail, saying that while there was definitely an improvement when increasing from 100 mg to 200 mg, going from 200 mg to 300 mg did not provide any additional benefit (Whiteman, 2014).

    Thank you for posting your article!

    Whiteman, Honor. “Caffeine may boost long-term memory.” http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270963.php. Medical News Today, 13 Jan. 2014. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.

  2. Kerrie Ann Caison Bagg

    What an interesting subject to choose. Did Michael Yassa express whether he thought that they should have had a wider margin of difference? I find it very interesting that the people who were given the caffeine were only 10% higher than the participants who were given the placebo. I feel that the caffeine may help to keep you more awake, alert and focused, but it may not always make you have a better memory. Memory comes for deeper processing.
    By reading your post it sounds like the participants were given objects or places that could have a semantic or some sort of eposodic meaning to them. This may make it easier for them to remember what was given to them the day prior. I know that when I see something of interest or that I have seen or learned before, it’s much easier to remember over time.
    Elaborate rehearsal, which according to our textbook is when you think about the meaning of the information and you associate the information with the personal meaning. (Goldstein 2013) When you have a particular experience it enables you to be better at processing the information on a deeper more enhanced level and retain thee information in your long-term memory. Could some of the items presented come from this?
    I agree with you, there should be more volunteers to participate and more time to truly know if caffeine improves memory on any level. By any chance was there part of the study that addressed decaf drinkers?

  3. clb5918

    This blog post caught my attention as I find caffeine increasingly beneficial and find the study of memory fascinating. It actually reminded me about an article my friend I were discussing about coffee and the effects on Alzheimer’s disease. In the study the researchers used coffee on rats engineered to be prone to the disease and found it decreased and delayed the effects (Cao et el.,2011). Interestingly, when they tried using just caffeine on a group and only decaffeinated coffee on another no effects were shown. Therefore there is still an unknown ingredient in regular coffee that has the benefit. Also the rats were given an amount equivalent to 4-5 cups a day which is an unlikely amount for us to have however they still suggest increased consumption for prevention during the age of 30-50 (Cao et el., 2011).
    It’s interesting to consider what exactly is going on in the brain during the consumption of caffeine that leads to conclusions like Alzheimer’s avoidance or enhanced memory as the article you mentioned displayed. I have never tested my memory but I find that my reading and note taking ability is much better with a cup of coffee in my hand. There are other things that get me through study sessions as well as coffee, like snacking really seems to keep my mind clear, especially after long hours of studying. From a scientific perspective it might be interesting to learn more on what happens chemically speaking from metabolism to blood stream to brain to the end result of increased memory and alertness. I agree with what you said that the study could be improved with longer studies, maybe ones that involved more complex memory tasks or even daily tasks. Maybe one day we will master memory to the point of control that we can retain what we need and loose what we don’t want!

    References
    Chuanhai Cao, Li Wang, Xiaoyang Lin, Malgorzata Mamcarz, Chi Zhang, Ge Bai, Jasson Nong, Sam Sussman, Gary Arendash.(2011, June 28) “Caffeine Synergizes with Another Coffee Component to Increase Plasma GCSF: Linkage to Cognitive Benefits in Alzheimer’s Mice.” Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/230134.php

  4. tms5869

    I like your article because it points out something that many people do every day and how it can affect something important in people’s lives, memory. I drink coffee and tea every day and I think I myself have a decent memory. I actually like to drink it in the mornings when I am sitting down and reading chapters in my schoolbooks. I have always known that caffeine has other cognitive affects such as making me more awake and helping me focus. I also drink it before going to gym because it helps me work harder and makes me more determine to get a good work out.

    Your article talks about how caffeine can help memory however I am curious to know how and why it helps. I have also heard before that caffeine can help people with the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, a debilitating illness that affects the memory, and I wonder if this has anything to do with how caffeine affects memory in general. An article I found on “Medical News Today” states “German and French researchers have demonstrated that caffeine has a positive effect on tau deposits, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. They showed how giving regular doses of caffeine to mice bred to develop tau protein deposits in their brains slowed memory decline compared to control mice”(Paddock 2014). Although this study was done on mice, and I have a long time before my brain starts making tau deposits, I still think these finding shows that caffeine has another positive affect on memory. Hopefully more research can be done to come up with medicines that can combat the early onset of Alzheimer’s in humans. Until then I will continue to drink my daily cup of coffee and hope that helps!

    Paddock, Catharine PhD. “Scientists discover big clue to how caffeine wards off Alzheimer’s.” http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/275181.php 8, April 2014. Web 30, October 2014

  5. Leah Ramos

    Reply to: Coffee may boost brain’s ability to store long term memories
    Raenisha I most certainly liked that you picked coffee and its relation to memory, seeing as how it is such a popular drink among college students. After reading your article, I did some research myself on coffee and was pretty surprised at the things I discovered. The study that was conducted at John Hopkins University in Maryland, which I’m assuming is the same one you mentioned, concluded that not only does a dose of caffeine enhance cognitive awareness but also long term memory and alertness. The study also suggested that students who have about one strong cup of coffee early morning before class will be more alert and retain material taught longer from classes (Whiteman, 2014).
    Other benefits of coffee that I thought were interesting to mention besides the pro for boosted memory, new studies are claiming it can protect against Parkinson’s disease, type 2 diabetes and liver disease, including liver cancer as well as decrease the risk of depression (Hensrud,2014). Many people believe that coffee is not good for you because there has been a lot of pervious research done in conjunction with other factors influencing the results of the studies that made it look like coffee has detrimental affects on health. But recently new research and studies have been suggesting otherwise. With it being one of the most consumed beverages in the world daily, I would hope that there are many benefits that come along with it.

    References
    Whiteman, H. (2014, January 13). “Caffeine may boost long-term memory.” Medical News Today. Retrieved from
    http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270963.php.

    Hensrud, D. (2014, March 14). Is coffee good or bad for me? Nutrition and Healthy Eating. Retrieved October 29, 2014, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/coffee-and-health/faq-20058339

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