Does caffeine make us more diligent? Not at all safe
"I'm sorry, I can't continue. I just can't concentrate on the road anymore." said his uncle the driver, bowing his head in embarrassment.
Dodo, Aaron and I looked at each other helplessly. Three older academic researchers in one car, on the way back from work at an IDF base in the middle of nowhere. His uncle stopped the car on the side of the road, and tried to justify himself without success.
"Would you like some coffee?" Aaron suggested.
"Absolutely not!" I hastened to respond "You never know what the coffee will do to him!"
"What are you talking about?" Aaron raised an eyebrow.
"I'm talking about a new study that tests the ability of intelligent beings to make an effort and activate the brain over time. Just like our uncle's work here," I said. "Until now, researchers have mostly tried to test the ability of animals to work hard by rewarding them for some physical task. They had the rats push a heavy bone, run for a long time, or any other grueling task. Based on their success in these tasks, they inferred the willpower of the rats. But how can these tasks be compared to the work of a university professor, for example, who can spend all day writing a new scientific article for future reward, or decide instead to surf Facebook all day without anyone knowing? So does our uncle, who has to make an effort to concentrate on the road, but can choose the easier way of sleeping."
"But I'm not lazy!" claimed his uncle.
"Keep listening." I advised him. "To test this issue, some researchers from Vancouver developed a method that forces the rats to concentrate on a certain task. The rats in the experiment watched five holes, and tried to find out from which hole a sudden flash of light emanated. Before the test began, the rats could press a lever to choose to perform the easy or difficult version of the task. In the easy version, the light turned on for a full second, making it easier for the rats to identify the correct hole. In the difficult version, the light was turned on for a fraction of a second - a fifth of a second really - and the meaning was that the rats had to stay awake for a long time to discover the source of the light. And the reward: one sweet sugar pill for success in the easy task, but a double reward, two sugar pills, for success in the difficult task.
The immediate results were clear. Some of the rats consistently chose the easier task. They tended to invest less mental effort, and settled for the lower reward. Other rats aspired to excellence, and were not afraid to commit. They repeatedly chose the difficult and tedious task, and enjoyed the great rewards that came with it. These differences, between hardworking and lazy, were repeated in other tests as well. And it is likely that we all also know humans who fit into the same categories as the rats."
"But I'm really not lazy! I just can't concentrate on the road anymore! I sat behind the wheel all day!" His uncle repeated his words.
"In any case, it doesn't matter," said the practical Aaron. "I say again: give him coffee, and within five minutes he's back on the road."
"That's exactly the point," I said, "you never know how the coffee will affect him. If we go by the research, when the researchers tried giving rats caffeine, they found that it did not make the lazy ones work harder. In fact, it had the opposite effect: it actually made the hard-working rats become lazy."
"Wait," said his uncle. "So am I allowed to drink this coffee or not?"
"Look, of course this is a study done on rats only, and it cannot be extrapolated to humans." I clarified. But he shows that stimulants do not necessarily cause work efficiency, even though the researchers themselves are unable to explain this strange phenomenon. But if we assume that the results are also valid for you, then in any case it is better not to drink coffee right now."
"Because if he's lazy, the coffee won't do him any good, and it's better not to continue driving anyway. And if he is diligent, yet is already close to exhaustion, then it is impossible to know how much the coffee will deteriorate him." Aaron managed to follow me.
"exactly." I said "And therefore, to be safe, we just have to replace his uncle with a hardworking person, without coffee. Someone who can concentrate on the road. Someone who doesn't spend all day in front of Facebook, or surrender to the small pleasures of life. Someone who really puts his all into work. A real hard worker.”
We exchanged glances. It was the moment of truth.
Lucky there were sleeping bags in the trunk.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
the article: http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/npp201230a.html
Sensitivity to Cognitive Effort Mediates Psychostimulant Effects on a Novel Rodent Cost/Benefit Decision-Making Task; Cocker, Winstanley et al; Neuropsychopharmacology, March 2012.
The article was published with the approval of Scientific American Israel
9 תגובות
Why not break a routine?
Caffeine is not a "miracle" substance. We know the mechanism by which caffeine affects animals (blockade of adenosine receptors).
This does not mean that there is no point in studies, or that we know all the effects. But - there is no reason to think that conclusions cannot be drawn from experiments with animals.
Especially in a matter like coffee, it is difficult to obtain results in behavioral tests of a commercial animal that would be some kind of hard for humans. The average student plows all night for the test with the help of a large consumption of expresso, he has years of experience in caffeine consumption as well as in the consumption of all kinds of other compounds that the mouse would not add such as cocoa ethanol, resins found in tea infusions and various spices. As far as I understand many of the substances that cause us humans to consume foods with a characteristic taste are originally defense mechanisms of the plants against predators or competing plants, our body being more developed and after years of adaptation of each individual reacts differently. Giving a mouse caffeine is like giving a first grader Turkish coffee for the first time and expecting a similar reaction as an adult driver who is used to coffee. In any case, as far as I know there is a scientific consensus regarding the stimulating effect of caffeine, but as to what kind of stimulation and how caffeine affects everyone it is difficult to know. Benjamin gave a good example with the Ritalin which stimulates and for some children it actually stimulates the brain and allows them to focus while for others (me for example) the Ritalin caused irritability
Benjamin May
I didn't understand how you connected hardworking and hyper? Why are you comparing the two?
Fresh orange or apple juice or other fruits or fruit juices will do a much better job than coffee. Coffee simply became a kind of symbol that we are used to and addicted to. me too.
(continuation of my previous response)
And so we come to the conclusion that the "hardworking" rats
They are actually "hyperactive" in our terms and that's all
A matter of definition.
And perhaps the trait of "diligence" (or "hyperactivity"
– whatever you choose) was actually an evolutionary trait
Useful in the time of our ancestors (a type of sharps
or something like that..) that was preserved by some of us.
melody.
I guess many studies have been done on the subject of coffee, not this one
the problem but the effect of a stimulant on the body. The famous example
It is Ritalin - which is a stimulant that calms children
Hyperactive but used as a stimulant - for example
For students who want to study.
Grace
The effect of caffeine is known and no more experiments are needed. We know for sure that this is not a placebo effect.
I liked the joke at the end 🙂 drinking the coffee can be an example of the placebo effect. The difference between rats and humans is that humans have beliefs about the effects of coffee. This could be a subject for research: does coffee make us alert and energetic thanks to its properties or is it our inner belief about the effects of coffee.