I wanted to continue the discussion on caffeine by focusing on caffeine and memory. Based on popular belief, caffeine is always thought to boost mental awareness and therefore gets automatic credit in improving cognitive abilities such as memory and processing speed (thinking speed).

Memory

There has been numerous research articles written on the subject of caffeine and memory. By studying several journal articles, I wanted to take a look at the effects of caffeine on memory. According to Mednick, et al., their experimental outcomes suggested that while caffeine increases alertness, it impairs verbal memory and motor learning.(2008) Other research that has been done with children provide strong evidence that caffeine intake can impair cognitive performance tasks that include memory (Keller 1995). A study that examined caffeine levels and memory in rats found that caffeine decreases memory intake but improves memory retention (Angelucci, et al. 2002). So in other words, this study shows that caffeine can hurt intake in memory or new information but once its in, it can be retained more easily. To me, this makes sense if we apply it to humans. I know from personal experience that its harder to comprehend reading while under the influence of higher levels of caffeine. Sometimes my reading is jumpy or sporadic.

This segways into my next topic for my caffeine series, Caffeine and the speed at which we think.

If you enjoyed reading this article, check out the previous article about Caffeine and performance.

Sources

Angelucci, M. E. M., Cesario, C., Hiroi, R. H., Rosalen, P. L., Da Cunha, C. (2002) Effects of caffeine of learning and memory in rats tested in the Morris water maze. Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, 35(10), 1201-1208.

Keller, S.L. (1995) Effects of caffeine consumption on cardiovascular indices, attention, task performance, and memory retention in children. Dissertation Abstracts International, 55(12-B), 5595.

Mednick, S. C., Cai, D. J., Kanady, J., Drummond, S. P. A. (2008) Comparing the benefits of caffeine , naps, and placebo on verbal, motor and perceptual memory. Behavorial Brain Research, 193(1), 79-86.

I have uploaded the Simply Content WordPress theme. Hope you enjoy some of the mods! I’m working on a magazine style theme that is based from this one as well. This theme is compact and allows you to easily edit it to your desires. Enjoy!

There is a new search engine that has come into the scene. Find.com Search Engine is a revolutionary new search platform that promises to help you find rather than search. They have about 500 uniquely written articles in their system that provide an expert perspective on the topic you are searching. I did a random search on the topic of psychology and received clean, to the point results. Their system is easy to use and yields results quickly. Other searching features they specialize in include Find People, friends, and even a job. The Find Jobs feature is especially useful to me as I am also seeking a part time job. They were able to bring up several job related search sites from around the web. This made my initial search very quick and productive.

The final feature I would like to point out is the short and sweet name. It’s easy to spell, remember, and even say! What is one of the first words you think of when about to search for something? I would like to “Find” that. So, without bashing my point in too much, my experience with this new search engine was good. They are still growing, adding to their inventory, and evolving with plans to have thousands of unique articles by the end of the year.

How much caffeine is too much? We all drink caffeine through coffee, sodas, and teas to help us get an edge on a sleep deprived day or perhaps just enhance our performance. Consider the fine line between too much caffeine or too little. Performance, whether intellectual or fine motor skills, can be increased to an optimal level. There is a happy median between too little caffeine and too much. This can go for all stimulants in general, but for the purposes of this article, I will focus on caffeine. Have you even had one cup of coffee and felt alert to the point of being at an optimal level of intellectual performance? Then on the other hand, had too much coffee and felt frazzled/ unorganized? This isn’t your imagination and can be explain in the graph below:

Image source: Fig. 6.4 of

Ksir, C., Hart, C.L., & Ray, O. (2008) Drugs, society, and human behavior (12^th Ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill.

As caffeine levels rise, you become more alert and performance appears to increase (Both intellectually and physically). Caffeine levels continue to rise and you become more excited. Performance starts to fall at this point and drops dramatically furthermore as dose increases. Examples of this can include jumpy selective attention, jittery body movements, and increased heart rate. It’s also very hard to concentrate on a complex cognitive task. ie: reading/writing/critical thinking.

In conclusion, be aware of your fine line between under stimulation and over stimulation. If you are planning to get something done and think the more caffeine you have the better, be aware of this model. Performance and organization can suffer with an overabundance of caffeine. This idea is further illustrated with a non caffeinated and caffeinated spider pictured below making its web:

Image Source

Content Source:

Ksir, C., Hart, C.L., & Ray, O. (2008) Drugs, society, and human behavior (12^th Ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill.

I’m sure everyone has heard about laser eye correction also known as LASIK. This procedure has a unique background that stems from the US Military and NASA. Personnel that undergo extreme situations within these organizations have benefited greatly from LASIK vision correction. Performance is enhanced and its obvious why the US Military and NASA would choose this procedure.

By today’s standards, there is an even safer version of LASIK technology available to the general public called ILASIK. This procedure uses two lasers instead of just one ensuring extra precision and safety. The older version of LASIK would use a hand held blade to create a corneal flap which would require the precision and skills of the person doing it. ILASIK uses its first laser to do the same thing but the difference is the computer guided precision that quickly and safely finished the first part of the procedure. Then the second laser is used to quickly correct the vision while using wave-front mapping technology to follow the unique layout of the patients eye. Clinical trials have shown that that this procedure is proven to be safe and effective. When the military evaluated LASIK with 100 personnel, 95% of them reported 20/20 vision or even better.

With the LASIK information we have today, laser eye surgery has never been more safe or effective. The US Military and NASA use it for their mission intensive needs and it surely passes the test of everyday needs. Be apart of the 12 million people who have enjoyed the benefits from this procedure.

Validity of a test or assessment is important to researchers and to the participants taking them. Much of what we read today in magazines and newspapers are not valid. An example of an item that has face validity, but no real validity is an opinion poll in a popular magazine. To the person taking it, it looks real and official (face validity). In actuality, the poll is unscientific and could be completely biased.

Construct validity concerns how well or accurately an assessment measures a construct (the thing being measured). For example, how well an anxiety assessment would measure anxiety.

Content validity is how well the content or items of an assessment make sense in terms of the construct. A question asking your favorite number would not be valid on an assessment measuring depression.

Criterion validity is whether or not a test can accurately predict some future event. An example if this is that the GRE test should predict how well a student will perform in grad school.

Convergent validity is simply scores on a certain test should be related to scores on another test measuring the same thing.

Discriminant validity is just the opposite of convergent validity. Scores on a certain assessment should not be related to scores on another assessment measuring something different.

Measurement reliability is important in any kind of research. It is defined as any measurement that is consistent and dependable. No measurement score is 100% true. Therefore, we can go further and say measure = true score+ error.

Inter-rater reliability only applies to situations/ studies when there are raters or judges. This concept identifies that that raters’ scores should not differ dramatically and there should be some sort of consistency on average.

Internal consistency reliability concerns assessment items or questions and that they should be similar with one another throughout the assessment.

Test re-test reliability is the reliability of an assessment to produce similar scores the next time you take it. An example would be a college assessment test (ACT,SAT). You would expect to get similar results if you take the ACT or SAT over again.