Research at the Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore has shown there is good reason to believe that a moderate consumption of coffee enhances long-term memory storage in the brain. A group of volunteers were shown a series of everyday images. Half of them was given a pill with 200 mg of caffeine five minutes after the test, the other half got a placebo. The next day they were shown another series of images, some the same as those shown before, some new ones and some slightly different than those of the previous day. While there was hardly any difference between both groups in distinguishing between the new and old images, the group that got the caffeine pill was better at picking the images that were slightly different than those of the first viewing session. According to the researchers this shows that caffeine enhances the brain's capability for pattern separation, i.e. recognising the difference between two similar but not identical items. And though there is some doubt about the validity of these tests among other scientists, and the researchers do not know how caffeine helps the brain to store memories, a moderate consumption of coffee just might be able to help jog your memory.
1 Comment
candida
24/1/2014 03:14:42 am
If that was true, I changed from tea-drinker to an coffee drinker :-)
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AuthorI wouldn't be surprised to find out I was born with a passion for coffee. For the life of me, I can't remember not loving coffee. And by that, I don't just mean drinking it, but everything involved from its cultivation over the processing to the final product that is my loyal companion throughout the day. Archives
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