Introduction
Caffeine is the most widely used stimulant on college campuses. It stimulates the central nervous system as it temporarily combats drowsiness, and restores alertness. Caffeine’s “powers” are the perfect anecdote for college student’s busy lives, but what if the opposite was true? Whether students barely come into contact with caffeine, and others use it habitually the study researchers whether caffeine has an effect on their cognitive processes. Daily caffeine regulars and sometime users consume it in many different ways, which are coffee, tea, cola drinks, candy bars, cocoa, cold and diet medications, and sleep prevention compounds, and they also consume it in various different doses. Caffeine is in about 100 medications, stimulants like NoDoz, cold preparations, appetite suppressants and mood elevating agents (Addicott, 2009). The psychophysiological effects of the stimulant include alertness, anxiety, heart rate, and these effects can result in a different performance on different task (Acevedo, 1988). The research questions whether the effects of caffeine have a positive or negative impact on student’s cognitive abilities.
During tasks that involve memory, and other cognitive processes the research will try to confirm the belief that caffeine is a cognitive enhancer. Whether students are in a withdrawn state, a normal caffeinated state, or just moderately use caffeine it has an effect on their memory, attention, planning, capacity, and psychomotor performance. Along with the effects of caffeine, student’s performance can be influence by other factors such as mood, the time of day, personality, intelligence, age, memory span, education, gender, socioeconomic status, occupation, smoking, expectancy, and/or alcoh...
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The presence of caffeine has become popular for increasing your alertness even though it has uncertain effects on cognition, coordination, and motor abilities. Caffeine is used as a stimulate to maximize performance on a daily basis for most people even those who do not have a morning drink to kick start to their day. People usually associate caffeine with their morning coffee or tea; however, “It can be found in a large portion of what we eat and drink and is consumed daily by an estimated 80% of children and adults in the United States (Barone & Roberts, 1996)”. The study by Childs and de Wit from the University of Chicago suggests that there might be a correlation in the variety of caffeine pills that have been given to some participants in past experiments (Childs & de Wit, 2008). In those studies the participants were given a caffeine pill that also has other herbal supplements which resulted in adding confounding properties to the study. The experiments where participants were given a true caffeine pill with 100% caffeine and no addit...
Does one drink caffeine? Caffeine is everywhere, it's in everything, it's apart of our daily lives. That’s what people doesn’t realizes; every soda drink, every cup of coffee, and every energy drink he or she gulps down before a thrilling game, all of that is caffeine. Caffeine is only completed when he or she get addicted. Caffeine can be an exceptional threat to the human body; energy drinks for example, it has enough caffeine to kill someone if he or she drinks enough. Energy drinks has been the number one drink high school students drink to stay awake in school; they even bring the drink in classrooms, and more than one energy drink. Soda has enough caffeine to destroy ones inner body. Soda is a everyday drink for some individuals, they
...y, this experiment would be useful for caffeine consumers in determining whether caffeine will have a positive or negative effect on their alertness. After completion of the experiment, it can be concluded that this investigation would be a useful reference for caffeine consumers interested in the effect of caffeine on psychological and physiological reaction times. However, the results will not be specific to them, and must be generalised, risking the reliability of the results. That being said, this experiment will have introduced a method of testing the effect of caffeine on psychological and physiological reaction times, which they may undergo for themselves.
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“Java Man” by Malcolm Gladwell is an essay describing caffeine, its uses, and social standing. The essay describes how this particular stimulant has been widely accepted by society throughout time. Malcolm Gladwell recounts how caffeine appeals to different classes when used in different beverages; gives examples of how this legal stimulant affects the body for different individuals and gives examples of a very short and unconventional study, which showed the harmless affects of caffeine; and is consumed by a variety of age groups in many ways. Malcolm Gladwell says it best in his essay, “Java Man”: “At one moment, in one form, it is the drug of choice of café intellectuals and artists; in another, of Zen monks; and yet another, of children enthralled by a fat man that slides down chimneys” (233). The setting and
"Researchers have attempted to find out how much caffeine people consume every day. It was estimated that in the United States, coffee drinkers drink an average of 2.6 cups per day. Total caffeine intake for coffee drinkers was 363.5 mg per day - this includes caffeine from coffee AND other sources like soft drinks, food and drugs. Non-coffee drinkers even get plenty of caffeine: former coffee drinkers get about 107 mg per day and people who have never had coffee get about 91 mg per day." (Schreiber et. Al) It is ironic that with such a large caffeine byproduct industry, ...
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A large part of academic success is the ability to think, but caffeine inhibits that ability. Caffeine causes problems in learning by preventing the replay of memories (Persad). All homework and exams test a student’s ability to recall the information that was taught in class. This means that memories need to be replayed to successfully pass those challenges. Also, A caffeine-induced stimulation can reduce a person’s ability to complete complex tasks because these tasks sufficiently stimulate the brain, and the addition of caffeine can cause excessive stimulation, lowering overall cognitive performance (Miao). The goal of schools is to stimulate teenagers’ brains so that they are challenged and learn from the experiences. When teenagers use caffeine they no longer focus and learn from those experiences. In addition, Research from the Pusan National University in Korea showed that long term use of caff...
Mednick, S. C., Cai, D. J., Kanady, J., Drummond, S. P. A. (2008). Comparing the benefits of caffeine, naps and placebo on verbal, motor and perceptual memory. Behavioral Brain Research, 193(1), 79-86
As the vast majority of Americans are addicted to caffeine, studies show that the effects during post-consumption, can be positive or negative depending on the amount and frequency of caffeine intake. As the demand for caffeine has increased, the caffeine industry has increased its amount of marketing and establishments to help aid this demand. Caffeine addiction can lead to serious health detriments and physiological detriments. It is evident that the primary reason for consumption of caffeinated beverages is due to positive effects, such as alertness. The media has an abundance of marketing to continue to illustrate this main effect. The media fails to project the negative effects of excessive caffeine intake. This literature review will illustrate how excessive caffeine consumption can be detrimental to one’s life, and how problematic caffeine use derives from conditioning by the caffeine industries.
Focus: Many research studies have examined how coffee affects the brain and its functions, and with a healthy diet coffee has many benefits – but also disadvantages.
Millions of Americans begin each day by consuming the most widely used drug in the United States: Caffeine. Over 90% of United States adults consume caffeinated food or beverages on a daily basis and over 50% take more than the recommended amount. Our innocent daily ritual can turn into an addiction for some because many do not realize that caffeine is even a drug let alone the effects it can have on their bodies. Its use it becoming more and more prominent in our society. It’s not uncommon to walk outside and see a Starbucks or coffee shop on each corner. Innovative foods are coming out infused with coffee, and energy drinks are being pushed at every angle. Caffeine to many is a necessity to wake up in the morning and for others to stay up all night. This is dangerous because people are not only becoming more and more dependent on coffee drinks and energy drinks but they are beginning to ingest more of it each day and are now mixing it with other drugs that can be life threatening. Proper knowledge is important when taking any drug including one that the FDA considers to be a safe multi-purpose food substance and education is the key.