We all know coffee is good for us and that it’s just a matter of time before scientific studies everywhere confirm this. Now, it looks like we’re one step closer to this glorious day because researchers have found coffee apparently improves one’s long-term memory. According to a study from the journal Nature Neuroscience, study participants who received caffeine were better at remembering images shown to them a day before.
In the study led by Michael Yassa, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University, subjects were shown a series of images. Right after that, some subjects received either a 200-milligram caffeine tablet or a placebo. Twenty four hours later, the subjects were tested with a different set of images and were asked whether an image was the same as one from the day before, similar, or new. Participants who took the caffeine tablet performed better on this test than those who took the placebo.
The key to this study is that the caffeine was taken after the subjects were initially shown the images. Previous studies have shown that caffeine improves alertness, attention, and focus, but by giving subjects caffeine after being shown the images, the researchers could rule out these positive aspects of caffeine.
“Almost all prior studies administered caffeine before the study session, so if there is an enhancement, it’s not clear if it’s due to caffeine’s effects on attention, vigilance, focus, or other factors,” Yassa said. “By administering caffeine after the experiment, we rule out all of these effects and make sure that if there is an enhancement, it’s due to memory and nothing else.”
To accompany their results, the researchers made a nice, soothing video, which can be seen below:
