There have been enough studies on coffee to keep you up at night. We at ACSH have followed and reported on this topic numerous times. Bottom line: Almost without exception, studies have found that coffee consumption is either safe, or frequently, provides various health benefits. So, we would be remiss in not reporting on the latest coffee news that it may improve your long-term memory.
In the journal Nature Neuroscience, Assistant Professor of neurobiology and behaviour, Michael Yassa of John Hopkins University explained the methodology behind the study.
Using a double blind study (neither the study participants nor the researchers knew who was getting placebo or 200 mg of caffeine) the researchers performed a simple memory test to ascertain whether there was any effect of caffeine on long-term memory. Test subjects were shown pictures on a computer screen and asked to make a simple decision whether the pictures were indoor pictures or outdoor pictures. The subjects were not told the purpose of the study. Twenty-four hours later both groups returned, and were given a surprise test where they were shown either photos they had seen the day before, photos similar to these, and photos that they had not seen previously.
According to Yassa, What we found was that [the people who got the caffeine pills] were better at discriminating between those similar pictures and the ones they've actually seen before ¦ He added, But when on caffeine they were more likely to say well wait a minute, this is kind of similar but it s not exactly the same as the one I saw yesterday.
To rule out the possibility that the enhanced performance was simply due to the caffeine remaining in the subject's blood after 24 hours, they ran another experiment where the researchers gave them caffeine right before the test.
Yassa s conclusion: Even though maybe it made them more vigilant or more alert while taking that test, it didn't really help their memory all that much.