Effects of Caffeine on Cognitive Performance and Mood essays

Effects of Caffeine on Cognitive Performance and Mood essays There is a wealth of research demonstrating that caffeine can improve aspects of cognitive performance and mood, but few has concluded that caffeine could enhance working memory. This study measured the effects of caffeine on several measures of alertness and cognitive performance, while cognitive performance focused on tasks that need the use of working memory. Forty-eight undergraduates at the University of Hong Kong participated in the study. They were asked to perform in three tasks, i.e. the finger tapping task, forward digit span task and backward digit span task, and were also asked to fill out an alertness questionnaire. The level of alertness and psychomotor speed were significantly increased, but there were no significant differences in the performance of the working memory tasks. Discussion focuses on whether caffeine could really have an effect on cognitive performance or that it only induces effects on certain cognitive tasks. It has been suggested that glucose when comb ined with caffeine would enhance memory, but not when consuming caffeine alone, and this is the area which we find it beneficial to all and worth having further research on. Caffeine is present in many widely consumed drinks, such as coffee, tea or coke; but very few of us would stop and think about its effects on our alertness and cognitive performance. There is now a very large literature on the behavioural effects of caffeine, and it has remained the subject of debate despite the years of research. However, one difficulty faced by researchers trying to determine the effects of caffeine is that the research evidence is always far from consistent. For example, many studies found that consuming caffeine would reduce reaction time comparing with a placebo (e.g. Scholey and Kennedy 2004; Yeomans et al. 2002), but on the other hand, some studies failed to find any effect of caffeine on mood or performance (e.g. Foreman et al. 1989; Smith et al. 1997). T...