None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This study will will address the gaps in the literature by exploring the underlying neural correlates of an acute dose of caffeine using both an attentional network task and a flanker Go/NoGo task. Specifically, caffeine is expected to improve the alerting and executive control networks of attention, but not the orienting network. For the attentional network task, it is hypothesised there will be a reduction in reaction time and an increase brain activity (N1 amplitude) following alerting (central) but not orienting (spatial) cues after caffeine ingestion in comparison to placebo. For the flanker go/nogo task, it is hypothesised that Reaction Time and brain activity (N2 amplitude) will be greater for incongruent relative to congruent trials, and that this flanker interference effect would be reduced from pre- to post-ingestion for caffeine relative to placebo.
Interventions
Acute (1 day) oral ingestion of 200mg Caffeine (2 x capsules) with a one-week washout period. Adherence monitored via direct observation by study staff.
Sponsors
University of Tasmania
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Crossover
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject, Caregiver, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 35 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Participation will be restricted to low caffeine users (less than 100mg per day) as assessed by the Caffeine and energy drink questionnaire.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria will include serious physical or neurological conditions, current or notable past history of mental health conditions), current use of psychoactive medications, recent or notable past history of illicit drug use, daily tobacco use, risk of alcohol dependence as measured by the Alcohol Use and Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT; defined as >= 16), high levels of psychological distress measured by Kessler Psychological Scale (K10; defined as >= 30), or contraindications to caffeine such as hypertension or anxiety. All participants will have English as their first language and normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing. Females will be excluded if they are currently pregnant or if there is any chance that they may be pregnant.
Outcome results
None listed