How coffee can perk up your memory: Drinking a strong mug after a learning session can improve recall
- Researchers in Baltimore, Maryland, carried out tests on 100 people
- Showed them a series of images which they had to remember
- Then gave some participants 200mg of caffeine - the same as a strong cup
- Those who took dose could remember pictures more clearly the next day
Boost: Researchers found a strong cup of coffee can improve people's ability to recall images
In a study of more than 100 people, scientists said a 200mg caffeine pill – equivalent to a strong mug – taken soon after a learning session improved image recall.
Participants had to identify pictured objects as either outdoor or indoor items, before taking either the pill or a placebo five minutes later.
Saliva samples were taken beforehand to measure their caffeine levels and again one, three and 24 hours afterwards.
The next day, they were shown some of the same images, plus similar ones and random new ones.
Both groups correctly identified pictures as being new or old, but those on caffeine were better at spotting the similar alternatives.
Those who received the placebo incorrectly identified these as the originals from the day before, showing that caffeine enhances certain memories at least up to 24 hours after it is consumed, according to the findings published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Dr Michael Yassa, of the University of California, Irvine, said: ‘Caffeine enhanced consolidation of long-term memories.
‘We have always known caffeine has cognitive enhancing effects, but its particular effects on strengthening memories and making them resistant to forgetting has never been examined in detail in humans. We report for the first time a specific effect of caffeine on reducing forgetting over 24 hours.’
Improved: Those who took a dose of caffeine
after a period of learning were able to identify pictures more
effectively the following day than those who did not take the pill
The brain’s ability to recognise the difference between two similar items reflects a deeper level of memory retention, researchers said.
Dr Yassa added: ‘If we used a standard recognition memory task without these tricky similar items, we would have found no effect of caffeine. However, using these items requires the brain to make a more difficult discrimination, what we call pattern separation, which seems to be the process enhanced by caffeine.’
The research is different from most earlier experiments that found caffeine had little or no effect on long-term memory, because the subjects took the caffeine only after they had viewed and tried to memorise the images.
Dr Yassa said: ‘Almost all prior studies administered caffeine before the study session so if there is an enhancement, it is not clear if it is due to caffeine’s effects on attention, vigilance, focus or other factors.
'By administering caffeine after the experiment, we rule out these effects and make sure if there is an enhancement, it is due to memory and nothing else.’
The caffeine-induced improvement was not seen with smaller doses of caffeine or when it was given an hour before viewing the images.
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