The impact of post-study caffeine treatment on memory consolidation
Perry, Clinton.
2019
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In 2014, Borota and colleagues reported novel findings in the
research of caffeine's effect on memory in humans. The authors found that when
caffeine was given after learning, participants were significantly better at
discrimination between conceptually similar, but perceptually distinct, lure
images from the images actually presented at encoding. This finding was the
primary inspiration for ... read morethis dissertation. Experiment 1 was aimed at determining
whether the findings of Borota and colleagues generalized to other false memory
tasks (i.e., the DRM and a task developed by Koutstaal and colleagues, 1999).
Caffeine treatment had no effect on memory performance for any of the memory
tasks. Experiment 2 was a direct replication of Borota and colleagues to determine
if changes in methodology were at the root of the null findings. Again, caffeine
had no effect on memory performance. In experiment 3, caffeine treatment was given
before encoding to determine whether absorption rate was a limiting factor in the
ability to demonstrate a memory effect of caffeine. Unlike Borota and colleagues,
discrimination performance did not differ between groups, but caffeine treated
participants were significantly more likely to endorse both old and lure items as
being "old". The results of these experiments lead to the conclusion that even
when given after encoding, caffeine has no effect on memory. These experiments and
the findings of Borota and colleagues are discussed within the framework of the
Fuzzy Trace Theory and future directions are suggested.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2019.
Submitted to the Dept. of Psychology.
Advisors: Ayanna Thomas, and Robin Kanarek.
Committee: Harris Lieberman, and Elizabeth Race.
Keyword: Psychology.read less - ID:
- bn999m46q
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