Experiment Shows Caffeine Boosts Long Term Memory

An anonymous reader writes "A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins has published results demonstrating that caffeine seems to boost long-term memory. In a double-blind study, participants were shown a series of images soon after taking either a caffeine pill or a placebo; 24 hours later they were tested on a similar, but not identical, series of images. Those who took the caffeine pill were more likely to correctly classify images as being different, identical, or similar to those seen the previous day; researchers refer to this as a 'pattern separation' test. The beneficial effect of caffeine on the long-term memory of honey bees was covered by Slashdot earlier."

Comments

"I WILL have a third cup!"

[rmdingler]

It is always welcome news when something you already engage in is reported to have benefits.

Like the health benefits of a couple of alcoholic drinks, there will undoubtedly follow a recommended modest dose, beyond which the diminishing returns corollary overtakes any health benefits.

Memorizing vs Recollection

[baffled]

The experiment used caffeine during memorization. Does caffeine have any relative effect on recollection?