Plain caffeine only partially reproduces the effects of drinking a cup of coffee, activating areas of the brain that make you feel more alert but not the areas of the brain that affect working memory and goal-directed behavior, according to new research.
There is a common expectation, namely among habitual coffee drinkers, that coffee increases alertness and psychomotor functioning.
For these reasons, many individuals keep drinking coffee to counteract fatigue, stay alert, increase cognitive performance, and increase work efficiency.
Coffee beverages are constituted of numerous compounds known to affect human behavior, among which are caffeine and chlorogenic acids.
From the neurobiological perspective, both caffeine and chlorogenic acids have well-documented psychoactive actions, whereas caffeine is mostly an antagonist of the main adenosine receptors in the brain, leading to the disinhibition of excitatory neurotransmitter release and enhancement of dopamine transmission to sharpen brain metabolism and bolster memory performance; chlorogenic acids can directly impact neuronal performance through mechanisms that still need to be understood.
While the neurochemical action of these compounds seems to be reasonably understood, the psychological effect of coffee/caffeine, although largely genuine, remains a matter of debate and should be considered in the context of its use.
“There is a common expectation that coffee increases alertness and psychomotor functioning,” said University of Minho’s Professor Nuno Sousa.
“When you get to understand better the mechanisms underlying a biological phenomenon, you open pathways for exploring the factors that may modulate it and even the potential benefits of that mechanism.”
For their study, Professor Sousa and colleagues recruited people who drank a minimum of one cup of coffee per day and asked them to refrain from eating or drinking caffeinated beverages for at least three hours before the study.
They…
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