Relations between cognitive and physiologic effects of caffeine

• Grant number: 11/01204-3
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: May 01, 2011
• End date: April 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Pharmacology - Neuropsychopharmacology
• Principal Investigator: Sabine Pompéia
• Grantee: Sabine Pompéia
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: José Carlos Fernandes Galduroz ; Juliana Lanini Mariano ; Vânia D'Almeida

Abstract

Present in the diet and in some medications, caffeine is the most consumed psychotropic drug in the world. Despite being broadly studied over the last decades, there is conflicting information regarding the effects of caffeine on cognition, probably due to the variety and discrepancy of the protocols employed in such studies, as well as of sample characteristics, dosage choice, presence of not of fasting and caffeine abstention. In addition, the relations between the cognitive changes brought about by caffeine and its metabolic and physiologic effects has not been established. The present project proposes the use of a specific test battery to assess the effects of different doses of caffeine on cognition in individuals that consume moderate amounts of caffeine and to correlate these effects with metabolic and physiologic changes. The effects of caffeine will be evaluates under two perspectives: 1) in a situation in which participants will be under fasting or not and will or will not receive a dose of caffeine; and 2) in a situation in which participants will not be fasting and not under caffeine abstention and will receive a supplementary dose of the drug (0, 100, 200 or 300 mg). The test battery was built in order to include measures of attention, vigilance, impulsivity, mood, long term memory and measures that assess six distinguishable executive function domains. We will also evaluate caffeine effects on metabolic (glucose, insulin and glucagon) and physiologic (pupil diameter - a measure of cognitive effort -, skin conductance, temperature and heart and respiratory rates) markers. We expect to obtain a better understanding of the effects of caffeine on cognition, and to establish possible correlations between physiological/metabolic alterations with the cognitive effects of this substance. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

LANINI, JULIANA; FERNANDES GALDUROZ, JOSE CARLOS; POMPEIA, SABINE. Acute personalized habitual caffeine doses improve attention and have selective effects when considering the fractionation of executive functions. HUMAN PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY-CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL, v. 31, n. 1, p. 29-43, JAN 2016. (11/01204-3)