13 replies to this topic

[Riotr]

I distinctly remember my professor telling our class that caffeine inhibited memory encoding, and have also seen this on the Wikipedia entry for nootropics (which has now been removed). I have looked through many studies of the effects on caffeine on the brain, and all i've come across is how caffeine increased acetylcholine levels in the brain, increases working memory and focus. The only negative effect I found pertaining to studying, was the degradation of long term memory after prolonged caffeine use (the study was done in mice).

My main question is, does caffeine negatively work against being used as a study aid?

[bgwithadd]

In the long term, yes, even at low doses. It also raises cAMP level in your prefrontal cortex, which basically shuts it down. That is opposite of what amphetamine or guanfacine does to treat ADD.

[Riotr]

Is it possible that the norepinephrine and epinephrine induced by caffeine is enough to offset the inhibition of Phosphodiesterase? So in other words, is it possible that the norepinephrine and epinephrine can effectively agonize the alpha 2 adrenergic receptor enough to lead to a sufficient decrease in cAMP levels? Meaning the HCN will remain closed and allow for memory encoding to take place? So far the only study i've read on HCN gateways has been improvements on working memory.

Edited by Riotr, 12 April 2009 - 10:48 PM.

[bgwithadd]

Only in short term or else effects of stims would last after they leave your system (which they don't). Stims don't change the actual cAMP levels, so they wear off and you go back to before (actually worse, because the extra caffeine just dumps more cAMP into your system). Also, for caffeine there is not a lot of NE release. It also has a neg. effect on hippocampus itself.

The long and the short of it is that caffeine is bad for cognition. You could get benefit from it if you only took it every few weeks but it's too addictive for most people to use it like that. You get a boost when you take it, but when you use it daily after not long all the boost is doing is returning you to the levels you were at before you started caffeine, and when you are not using it your levels are worse than when you started.

The reality though is that mood has more to do with learning than anything else, and the only thing that really guarantees more learning is more studying. If it takes downing caffeine to get you studying, then that's what it takes.

If you want to be scientific about it though you are not actually likely to improve your brain's actual performance signifigantly with any substance you take. Anything you take is going to either do little to nothing, have a slight neg. impact, or else temporarily boost you now at a price later. You can get more out of some supplements if your brain has some deficiency, but for healthy people they don't do a lot.

Also, quality studying is important. You don't learn as efficiently if you have long bouts of studying for 19 hours while caffeined up. If you start early in the semester and do it at more regular intervals you will get more out of the time you spend, but of course it's hard for most people to stick to a plan like that - often because they get too ambitious in their plan and then give up. If you want a general smart pill, though, there's no such thing. Caffeine can be useful in a tight situation because it keeps you awake, but the best thing is to keep from getting into cram situations in the first place.

Edited by bgwithadd, 12 April 2009 - 11:26 PM.

[Riotr]

Ahh I see, i'm missing some key bits of information, how long does caffeine inhibit Phosphodiesterase for; is it reversible? I was hoping that caffeine had an indirect effect on the alpha-2A adrenergic receptors through NE and E which would allow information to pass through into the neurons. Basically caffeine won't inhibit memory encoding short term but once tolerance occurs then negative effects start appearing because of lower NE levels.

I was always wondering about this because for the last 2 years I've been avoiding caffeine like the plague when studying for exams (I used to drink a caffeine shake before i wrote the exam to improve recall). When studying i've noticed great improvement in memorization on huperzine a, piracetam, and lecithine; for focus i use selegiline and pea; i also take 5htp before sleep with l-theanine and taurine. I've been doing great on my exams and after i started this regimen my gpa has improved up consistently every year. I don't know if thats because i've gotten used to university, got better study habits, or just got smarter

I'm gonna try to add some caffeine to perk me up when studying now and see how that goes.

Thanks

[bgwithadd]

I doubt memory encoding is a big issue in either direction. Remember, in these studies they report any statistically signifigant change. In reality if you learn 5% more or 5% less it is nothing. You might just have to study longer.

Prefrontal cortex has nothing to do with learning, though. It has more to do with attention than anything. When you take caffeine you will get some lift in this area but you also tend to get like manicky/choppy thoughts that have very quick brainwave spikes. When you are off it you lose what benefits you had and it makes your prefrontal cortex think its cells are exhaused and need energy before they go on, so it basically shuts down.

If you manage to study more on caffeine it might be of some use, but the longer you study in one sitting the less you will get out of it on a per hour basis. I'd not take it going into a test, though, and you should keep in mind the bad effects. If you have an exhausted prefrontal cortex or are manicky going into test you are not going to get ideal results.

Once you sleep, the inhibition part is not an issue. Your body will reset itself by then. However, the cAMP in the prefrontal cortex might be. I don't know the mechanism by which it effects the hippocampus, but it is probably similar. cAMP is a pretty basic signaling mechanism in the body that does lots of surprising things, and I don't think there is any cut and dried answer as to how long it takes for you to recover. It's not a matter of caffeine wearing off but of your cells managing to replenish themselves.

[quasi13]

I think this must be in rodents.

Inhibitory effects of caffeine on hippocampal neurogenesis and function

Caffeine is one of the most extensively consumed psychostimulants in the world. However, compared to short-term effects of caffeine, the long-term effects of caffeine consumption on learning and memory are poorly characterized. The present study found that long-term consumption of low dose caffeine (0.3 g/L) slowed hippocampus-dependent learning and impaired long-term memory. Caffeine consumption for 4 weeks also significantly reduced hippocampal neurogenesis compared to controls. From these results, we concluded that long-term consumption of caffeine could inhibit hippocampus-dependent learning and memory partially through inhibition of hippocampal neurogenesis.

http://www.sciencedi...b4849b2a406ffc5

[spaceistheplace]

If caffeine does in fact inhibit memory encoding then it's a small price to pay, for without it I probably wouldn't study to begin with.

[outsider]

Green Tea is very beneficial for memory and it contains caffeine...

[Raptor87]

http://www.sciencedi...5d&searchtype=a

Caffeine consumption for 4 weeks also significantly reduced hippocampal neurogenesis compared to controls. From these results, we concluded that long-term consumption of caffeine could inhibit hippocampus-dependent learning and memory partially through inhibition of hippocampal neurogenesis.

Anything new on this front?

Should one stop drinking caffeine? Caffeine is like crack for me I just can´t.

[OneScrewLoose]

Now that I have Nuvigil for my chronic fatigue I will definitely be cutting back on my 5 cups of coffee per day.

[caruga]

Not sure if this is the reason I find it so hard to collect my thoughts, lately. My working memory seems horrid, and I find it very difficult to concentrate, like my brain is fried. I'm a chronic caffeine user.

Is there any substance that 'strengthens' the prefrontal cortex, or supplies it with the chemicals it needs to keep on going or has some kind of adaptogenic effect on that area of the brain?

[abelard lindsay]

Here's one of the most widely cited articles in the literature on the pharmacological effects of caffeine:

http://pharmrev.aspe...nt/51/1/83.full

This paper is really through and goes on to talk about how A2A receptors antagonism has effects on D1 and D2, acetylcholine, etc. He does downplay the effects on phosphodiesterase, saying that the inhibition only happens at extremely high does.

Nevertheless this is a long paper. If any of you guys read the whole thing and find anything interesting, please post.

[wolfeye]

Caffeine alters proliferation of neuronal precursors in the adult hippocampus

Neurogenesis continues through adulthood in the hippocampus and olfactory bulb of mammals. Adult neurogenesis has been implicated in learning and memory, and linked with depression. Hippocampal neurogenesis is increased in response to a number of stimuli, including exposure to an enriched environment, increased locomotor activity, and administration of antidepressants. Adult neurogenesis is depressed in response to aging, stress and sleep deprivation. Intriguingly, caffeine modulates a number of these same stimuli in a dose-dependent manner. We examined the dose and duration dependent effects of caffeine on the proliferation, differentiation, and survival of newly generated hippocampal neurons in adult mice. Extended, 7-day caffeine administration, alters the proliferation of adult hippocampal precursors in the mouse in a dose dependent manner; moderate to high doses (20–30mg/kg/day) of caffeine depress proliferation while supraphysiological doses (60mg/kg/day) increase proliferation of neuronal precursors. Acute, 1-day administration had no affect on proliferation. Caffeine administration does not affect the expression of early or late markers of neuronal differentiation, or rates of long-term survival. However, neurons induced in response to supraphysiological levels of caffeine have a lower survival rate than control cells; increased proliferation does not yield an increase in long-term neurogenesis. These results demonstrate that physiologically relevant doses of caffeine can significantly depress adult hippocampal neurogenesis.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....73/?tool=pubmed

Edited by wolfeye, 24 May 2011 - 09:44 AM.