Health: 'given effect', caffeine enhances memory for at least 24 ... - SassariNotizie.com

Health

Rome, January 13 (Reuters) – Good news for espresso lovers, but also tea and soft drinks with caffeine: as well as giving a boost of energy, this fact gives substance memories of iron. And the effect is ‘drag’ up to 24 hours after consumption. Assure researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the authors of a study published in ‘Nature Neuroscience’. Michael Yassa and his team of scientists (who started the study at the University of California before arriving at Johns Hopkins) have indeed shown that caffeine has a positive effect on the long-term memory: improves some types of memories, and this at least up to 24 hours after. “We’ve always known that caffeine has cognitive effects, but the ability to set reminders to make them more resistant and difficult to forget has never been examined in detail in humans,” said Yassa. Well, researchers can “report for the first time a specific effect of caffeine on reducing forgotten for more than 24 hours.” The group conducted a double-blind study of 100 subjects. Prior to all of the images were shown, after which the participants – who do not habitually consumed foods with caffeine – received a placebo or a pill with 200 milligrams of caffeine (the equivalent of two cups) five minutes after having studied the immagini.I researchers took saliva samples of the volunteers before taking the tablets to measure the levels of ‘base’ of caffeine, by taking back a distance of one, three and 24 hours. The next day, both groups were assessed for ‘photograph’ their ability to recognize the images seen the day before. In the test there were also new images, and other similar but not identical to those shown above. And here we have seen the effect expressed” ‘: group’ caffeine ‘more people have answered correctly, even avoiding the pitfalls of similar images, than the other group. The brain’s ability to recognize the difference between two similar but not identical reflects a deeper level of memory retention, the researchers explain. And it seems that’s the target of the action of caffeine. The center of the memory in the brain is the hippocampus, an area in the shape of sea horse that is located in the medial temporal lobe of the brain. “Almost all previous studies were administering caffeine before the study session, and so it was not clear whether the improvement was related to the possible effects of the substance of attention, alertness, focus, or other factors. Upon administration after the experiment exclude all of these effects: the improvement is related to memory and nothing else, “assures Yassa. “The next step for us is to understand the brain mechanisms underlying this improvement,” says the researcher. “We also know that caffeine is associated with longevity in good health and may have some protective effects against cognitive decline. This is certainly important issues” to be considered “in the future,” he concludes.