Universität zu Köln

Aust, Frederik ORCID: 0000-0003-4900-788X and Stahl, Christoph (2020). The enhancing effect of 200 mg caffeine on mnemonic discrimination is at best small. Memory, 28 (7). S. 858 - 870. ABINGDON: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD. ISSN 1464-0686

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Mnemonic discrimination is the ability to discriminate among similar memories, which requires separable representations of similar information. The neurocomputational process that assumedly decorrelates representations during encoding and consolidation is referred to as pattern separation. Deficits in pattern separation contribute to age-related declines in mnemonic functioning, which has motivated the development of targeted interventions. We followed-up a recent report that one 200 mg-dose of caffeine administered post-study enhances mnemonic discrimination [Borota, D., Murray, E., Keceli, G., Chang, A., Watabe, J. M., Ly, M., Toscano, J. P., & Yassa, M. A. (2014). Post-study caffeine administration enhances memory consolidation in humans.Nature Neuroscience,17(2), 201-203. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3623]. To test whether the reported enhancements are an artifact of performance-impairing withdrawal symptoms in the control group, we did not restrict preexperimental caffeine intake and statistically adjusted treatment effects for habitual caffeine consumption. We detected no effects of caffeine and nonsuperiority testing ruled out medium and large enhancements in both average (1200 mg per week) and low-consumers (50 mg per week). Our results raise doubts about a caffeine-mediated enhancement of mnemonic discrimination on two counts: If the effect exists, it (1) is substantially smaller than originally reported and (2) may reflect an offset of performance-impairing withdrawal symptoms rather than genuinely enhanced consolidation. We recommend that future studies employ an alternating exposure-abstinence protocol, use an active control group, and verify posttreatment caffeine abstinence via saliva or blood samples.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Aust, Frederik UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0003-4900-788X UNSPECIFIED Stahl, Christoph UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-325436
DOI:	10.1080/09658211.2020.1781899
Journal or Publication Title:	Memory
Volume:	28
Number:	7
Page Range:	S. 858 - 870
Date:	2020
Publisher:	ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Place of Publication:	ABINGDON
ISSN:	1464-0686
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language AGE-RELATED DEFICITS; FALSE MEMORIES; SMOOTHING PARAMETER; PATTERN SEPARATION; MODEL SELECTION; SIMILARITY TASK; T TESTS; PERFORMANCE; RECOGNITION; RECALL Multiple languages Psychology, Experimental Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/32543