A coffee before diving into a difficult mission is not only used to wake up. According to a recent study, it could also help hold longer in the face of failure or impossible. Published in the journal Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimentalthis research carried out in Amherst College (Massachusetts) suggests that caffeine can increase persistence, but not in all situations.
Coffee particularly useful in case of stress
The team of researchers worked with 329 students divided into three separate experiences. In the first, the participants randomly received a neutral eraser, a placebo gum or an eraser containing 40 milligrams of caffeine. They then had to tackle two tests: a complex image of which was voluntarily lacking, and an insoluble anagram. In this dosage, no caffeine effect was observed on their tenacity.
When the dose went up to 100 milligrams – the equivalent of a cup of full -bodied coffee – the results have changed. Students having cheated the caffeinated eraser spent an average of 52 % of their time looking for the absent object in the image, against 38 % for others. On the other hand, the task of anagram has shown no significant difference.
The third phase added a key variable: stress. The volunteers had to plunge their hand into iced water under observation, a test known as the cold pressure test. After this trying passage, some received a caffeinated gum, others a neutral eraser. There, the results are clear: caffeine increased perseverance in stressed participants, while it reduced it slightly to those who were not.
A coffee before attacking a big file!
Sarah M. Turgeon, professor of psychology at Amherst College and the main author of the study, thus sums up the conclusions of her work: “Caffeine seems to have positive effects on perseverance in tasks and these effects are influenced by stress “.
Researchers, however, recognize certain limits, especially in controlling the consumption habits of participants. “”We work to better design the tasks to deal with these limits and confirm our results“, Concludes the professor. In the meantime, nothing prevents savoring a little black before attacking an arduous mission.