One of the most consumed beverages in the world, coffee keeps many people awake from work and other daily activities. However, new research shows that the uplifting effects of the liquid may be a placebo, and that the prep ritual alone may already produce the desired morning boost.
The study, published last Wednesday (28) in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, examined the link between feelings of alertness induced by caffeine consumption and the experience of drinking coffee. The Portuguese scientists responsible point out that the perceived increase in cognitive and motor performance is a subjective sensation and may not have a neurobiological connection.
Subjects were recruited who drank at least one cup of coffee a day and underwent two MRI scans — one three hours before caffeine intake and one right after drinking a cup of coffee or hot water with the same amount of caffeine. caffeine inside. A 230ml cup, which is considered the standard size for research, contains 80 to 100mg of caffeine.
Coffee wakes you up or is it the placebo?
Already expecting coffee to act as a central nervous system stimulant, the scientists already knew that MRIs of caffeine users would show greater integration between certain brain regions. No sooner said than done: The default mode network, a part of the brain that deals with introspection and selfreflection, showed lower connectivity after drinking coffee and caffeinated water, showing that any ingestion of this substance makes it easier to wake up and alert to stay.
However, this is where the placebo effect comes into play. Drinking coffee also increased connectivity in the higher visual network and the right executive control network, which was not the case for people who only drank caffeinated water, without the coffee ritual itself. This suggests that those parts of the brain associated with memory functions, cognitive control, and goaloriented behavior must stimulate the coffeedrinking experience itself—and not just the caffeine.
In other words, according to the scientific article, if you want to not only feel alert, but also be more excited to take action earlier in the day, merely consuming caffeine will not help you in any way. In order for this to succeed, the ritual of brewing and drinking the coffee is important. Scientists even claim that the decaffeinated beverage already induces the desired mood effects, but the work didn’t specifically examine this phenomenon to confirm the claim.
Source: Frontiers in Behavioral Science via Fortune