Drink two espressos to enhance long-term memory

Coffee has long been a friend of students working through the night, but it does more than just keep us awake. A study provides the first convincing evidence that caffeine enhances long-term memory in people – provided the dose is right.

The effects mirror similar results seen in honeybees, where a boost to memory from caffeine-laden nectar may help bees return to certain plants.

Researchers strongly suspected that caffeine enhances memory, but studies that tried to show this in people weren’t conclusive, as any apparent benefits in memory could have been due to increased attention, a known benefit of caffeine.

Studies in animals such as rats, meanwhile, suggested that it enhances memory consolidation – the process of strengthening memories between acquiring them and retrieving them – which should affect long-term memory.


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