” When you get to comprehend better the mechanisms underlying a biological phenomenon, you open pathways for exploring the elements that might modulate it.”
” There is a common expectation that coffee increases awareness and psychomotor performance,” Nuno Sousa of the University of Minho, study author, said in a statement.
It might seem like a cliché, however for lots of, the day doesnt really begin till theyve emptied their coffee mug. Coffee is often connected with improving alertness, and people swear by it to stay awake and improve their productivity. Nevertheless, our brain may in fact be lying to us about how much we require that coffee.
Image credits: Wikipedia Commons.
A team of Portuguese scientists found that the feeling of alertness people experience after having a cup of coffee may be more of a placebo effect brought on by the experience of drinking coffee, rather of the results of the caffeine itself. In their paper, they describe how they carried out MRI scans on people who regularly consume coffee.
Is it the caffeine or simply the drink?
” Taking into account that a few of the results that we discovered were recreated by caffeine, we might expect other caffeinated drinks to share a few of the impacts,” María Picó-Pérez, research study author, said in a statement.
The findings revealed that both coffee intake and pure caffeine consumption resulted in a decline in connection within the default mode network. This suggests that the act of consuming either coffee or caffeine enhanced individuals preparedness to transition from a state of rest to taking part in tasks.
The authors acknowledged the constraints of their research study, discussing that they didnt examine whether non-caffeinated coffee might yield comparable outcomes to caffeinated coffee. Additionally, they cautioned that the viewed benefits reported by coffee drinkers might potentially be associated to the relief of withdrawal symptoms, which werent took a look at in the study.
During the scans, individuals were asked to unwind and enable their minds to wander. Provided the neurochemical results of coffee, the scientists believed that the scans would expose heightened integration of networks connected with the prefrontal cortex. This part of the brain is included in executive memory, in addition to the default mode network, responsible for self-questioning.
” However, others were specific for coffee drinking, driven by factors such as the particular odor and taste of the drink, or the mental expectation.”.
Drinking coffee increased the connectivity within the greater visual network and the ideal executive control network– regions of the brain linked with working memory and cognitive control. This effect wasnt observed when participants just took caffeine and didnt experience the sensation of enjoying a cup of coffee.
The research study was published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.
The scientists recruited individuals who drink at least one cup of coffee daily. Before the research study, they were advised to avoid consuming any caffeinated drinks or food for at least 3 hours. The group initially interviewed them to collect sociodemographic information and after that did two MRI scans, one before and one after taking caffeine or drinking a standardized cup of coffee..
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Coffee is frequently associated with increasing awareness, and individuals swear by it to remain awake and enhance their efficiency. Our brain may actually be lying to us about how much we require that coffee.
The researchers hired individuals who consume at least one cup of coffee daily. Given the neurochemical effects of coffee, the researchers thought that the scans would expose increased integration of networks associated with the prefrontal cortex.