It’s something you see everyday, Penn State students downing cups of coffee or chugging Red Bull before a class or test to stay focused. I’ll admit I’ve been there more often than I’m proud of. Many people wonder, however, if caffeine helps us with more than just staying awake.
Let’s first take a look at a study on caffeine and memory from Johns Hopkins University. Researchers preformed a randomized double-blind placebo trial on fifty-four subjects. These subjects were said to be people who do not eat or drink caffeine regularly. Five minutes after studying a series of images, half of the participants were given a 200mg caffeine pill while the others were given a placebo. The participants were brought back in the next day and were tested on the images. The group that received the caffeine did significantly better at not only remembering the images, but also distinguishing them from new images added to the test.
This study shows a positive correlation between enhanced memory and taking caffeine after learning. There are, however, some questions that need answering. The sample size was fairly large so it gives us a good depiction of the effects of caffeine, but they failed to report the age and gender of the subjects. Since it was randomized, the gender isn’t as much of a concern. Since it was a university research study, it is probable that the subjects were between ages 18 and 25. If this is the case, even despite the small age range, the results were significant enough that we can assume that it applies for other age ranges. The subjects were described as people who do not take caffeine regularly, so what about those who take a lot of caffeine? Many people are heavy coffee drinkers, so would this help their memory since they ingest significantly more caffeine than the subjects in the study, or do they build up a tolerance to the caffeine? Also, since chance is always a factor in science, there is a chance that the placebo subjects have ADHD or some type of learning disability that was not accounted for. Lastly, even though the subjects were said to not be regular caffeine takers, they still could have stopped at Starbucks for a cup of coffee before the study. This leads us into my next question: does the timing of the caffeine consumption matter?
Offduty: Caffine Drinks
There was another group of randomized double-blind placebo trials done at Johns Hopkins University in response to the first study that we looked at, answering many of the questions above. Using 160 subjects, they gave one group a 200 mg dose of caffeine before learning a subject (the other group was given a placebo). The rest of the test was exactly the same as the first study. They found no statistical difference relative to the placebo when receiving the caffeine before learning the information. Comparing this to the first study, we can see that giving the subjects caffeine after learning had better results in than giving them caffeine before.
The Johns Hopkins researchers also tested the difference between different doses of caffeine (after learning a subject). There was a difference in the results in those who received 100mg and 200mg doses of caffeine, but there was no difference between 200mg and anything above 200mg, showing that we don’t need to overload ourselves with the drug.
The last factor that we should account for is the effects that caffeine has on sleep. As we know, sleep has a huge impact on our cognitive functions, including memory. Since caffeine intake can inhibit sleep, it is a viable argument that taking in too much caffeine can have a negative effect on our memory. Since Johns Hopkins showed that 200mg caffeine had the same effect as taking more, it seems not only unnecessary, but also potentially harmful to our memory to consume more than 200mg.
Now we can see that the many people misunderstand the best uses for caffeine. There is strong evidence showing that drinking your cup of coffee after studying will be more beneficial than drinking it before, even if you think it will help you stay focused. Obviously, there are several other variables that need to be accounted for in these studies, but the evidence found at Johns Hopkins definitely provides a strong argument that ingesting caffeine after learning something is the most beneficial.
Picture citation: http://reachingutopia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/caffeine-drinks.jpg
Nice post! I think an interesting way to extend it further would have been to discuss the other so called “study drugs”, adderal, ritalin, and other amphetamines. I do not have ADD, so I do not have extensive experience with those drugs, but my friend tells me that caffeine and these amphetamines have similar effects on him, and both greatly increase his capacity to study. I have only taken one of these pills on one occasion, in order to stay up the weekend I visited Penn State, because I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before, and had a terrible experience. I was overly focused, and in a relaxed setting, this is certainly not a good thing. I see how people would like it for study situations, but personally I will never due to my own morals and tastes.
This is a very interesting topic as caffeine plays a key role in many college students’ lives. I believe that caffeine gives a temporary boost in attention, focus and memory, but as the caffeine wears off, so do the effects of the drink. This often leads to a crash. Based on personal experience, I feel that caffeine is a good method for a temporary amount of time, such as to help focus on taking a test or simply to boost your energy half-way through the day. One aspect of these studies that I am questioning is what information they taught and tested the students on. Is it possible that the students had prior knowledge on the information presented to them, therefore their memory would have been stronger? These are both strong studies, but caffeine can also have negative effects on the body, therefore I believe more research must be done on the topic.
I am a regular coffee drinker, and I feel my best when I have one cup of coffee each morning. If I don’t drink one cup of coffee, I will feel groggy and not as attentive because I now have a dependency on it since junior year of high school. If I drink more than one cup of coffee, I will be shaky that day and won’t be able to fall asleep as easily that night. Caffeine has its pros and cons. The first study you mentioned was very interesting, but I was wondering if the results could be due to a third variable, such as how much sleep each participant got the previous night and if that could have affected how well they remembered or recognized the images. I think overall that a person who is not dependent on caffeine should stay away and try their best to remain a non-frequent caffeine drinker. If you are dependent on caffeine but use it in small, reasonable doses, it has it’s benefits and does no harm. Great post and good job analyzing the studies.
-Claire
I drink a lot of caffeine. A lot. And when I mean a lot, I mean in quantities more than one would initially understand. This is mostly due to the fact that I don’t drink coffee (because I’ve never liked the taste)- and in turn, I seem to compensate by downing a sugary beverage, like caffeinated soda. All in all, soda can after soda can, bottle after bottle, my trash can fills on a nearly daily basis. Naturally, when I saw your blog post on caffeine’s effect on reading…I was inclined to read it, and apply it to my own life, my own study habit, and my own academics.
The study by Johns Hopkins is extremely interesting. It’s also, actually, the opposite of what I was anticipating. I’ve always been told, or at least always thought, that caffeine has nothing but negative effects (disregarding the positive short term outlook). You did an excellent job dissecting this study. You broke it down point by point and made it clear to the reader exactly what’d happened. Although you covered most of the possible fallacies of the study, just one did come to my mind! While, of course, the exact objects of the memory test wouldn’t be the same, after taking a test once, one is certainly sure to be more familiar with its layout. One”s certainly sure to have a better idea of the test’s workings. One’s certainly sure to be better prepared to experience it. So, perhaps, maybe this is the reason they did better the second time they took the test? Maybe it has very little to do with that 200mg of caffeine?
Overall, the study was extremely interesting and your blog did an excellent job shedding light on that, and the true nature of caffeine’s both positive and negative effects. It inspired me to continue doing some more research. And so, I leave you with the most intriguing article I could find.
Like you said, I always knew a cup of coffee would keep you up, but improve clarity and focus? That’s just awesome. While I am not the biggest coffee fan, I can’t deny that I haven’t thought about throwing back a 5 hour Energy before cramming for a test. However, even with the positive benefits of caffeine, there are many things about it that would lead me to be uncomfortable putting it into my body. Too much caffeine can make you extremely jittery, nauseous, and may raise your blood pressure. Caffeine may help you but like your article said, no more than 200 mg should be consumed. Check out this article about Caffeine.