Coffee Is Stimulating Your Brain Even When You’re Not Drinking It
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How Coffee Stimulates Your Brain Without Drinking Any
Feel like another afternoon coffee but want to a) get some sleep tonight and b) not send your anxiety meter into the red zone? Well, we have good news. According to new research published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition, just looking at something that reminds us of coffee is enough to make us more alert and attentive.
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The study from the University of Toronto examines what’s known as priming, where exposure to even subtle cues can influence our thoughts and behavior.
“Coffee is one of the most popular beverages and a lot is known about its physical effects,” co-author Sam Maglio, an associate professor in the department of management, said in a news release. “Much less is known about its psychological meaning — in other words, how even seeing reminders of it can influence how we think.”
Surprise! Coffee Culture Is Everywhere
As Maglio points out, coffee-related cues are everywhere in the Western world. Maybe it’s the presence of a Starbucks on every second corner or an ad for Nescafe or Ari Spyros and his ridiculous espresso machine in “Billions,” coffee and its energizing and social undertones are a constant.
For their study, Maglio and his co-researchers simply wanted to see if being exposed to things that remind us of coffee affects our arousal (where specific areas of the brain are activated into a state of alertness, wakefulness, and attentiveness).
“We wanted to see if there was an association between coffee and arousal such that if we simply exposed people to coffee-related cues, their physiological arousal would increase, as it would if they had actually drank coffee,” Maglio explained.
To do this, the researchers conducted four separate studies. The studies used a mix of participants from Western and Eastern cultures, and compared coffee- and tea-related cues. It turned out that people who were exposed to coffee-related cues — as opposed to simply necking a mug of coffee — perceived time as shorter and saw the world in more specific, detailed terms.
“This has a number of implications for how people process information and make judgments and decisions,” Maglio said in the news release.
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East Versus West
You may have already guessed the other finding of the research: The coffee-related cues were much stronger among participants who grew up in Western cultures, where we are surrounded by caffeine culture.
“In North America, we have this image of a prototypical executive rushing off to an important meeting with a triple espresso in their hand,” Maglio said. “There's this connection between drinking caffeine and arousal that may not exist in other cultures.”
So what’s next? Well, if the coffee cue research sounds like a fun diversion, the phenomenon it investigates becomes a little troubling when applied to other aspects of Western life. The researchers have found, for example, that merely laying eyes on a fast-food restaurant logo damages our capacity to slow down and savor life’s experiences.
Looking into the associations people have with different food and beverages is the next step for Maglio and his fellow researchers.
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via AskMen
https://ift.tt/2uvaXQ0 March 29, 2019 at 12:12AM BruceDayne, Matt Shea March 29, 2019 at 12:27AM
