interesting study

[acroyear]

Neuroskeptic: Real vs Placebo Coffee:

Coffee contains caffeine, and as everyone knows, caffeine is a stimulant. We all know how a good cup of coffee wakes you up, makes you more alert, and helps you concentrate - thanks to caffeine.

Or does it? Are the benefits of coffee really due to the caffeine, or are there placebo effects at work?

Comments

yeah...

[ginger-rose.livejournal.com]

well, judging by how I "feel" immediately content after I get the first sip of coffee in me, I'd say there is at least personal anecdotal evidence that a psychological component is involved. ;) Anecdotal evidence being what it is, that and $3.50 will, well, get me a cup of coffee. ;)

Unfortunately, studies like this aren't nearly as clean cut as actual science really requires -- developing effective control groups and baselines (as the blog hinted at) aren't easy when you need to rely on the participants to police their intake (and you're relying on their honesty and memory to boot). ;) On top of that, taking a healthy, non-caffeinated group of people as a variable might have demonstrated some interesting data. ;)

Re: yeah...

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

well, that's where the *real* job of science gets involved. once there are enough studies, the next task is to do statistical studies of all of those studies to ferret out larger commonalities and patterns. THEN the analysts have to propose new tests that might verify those larger patterns, and the process repeats.

almost all cognitive issues have the overall problem of self-recognition involved. given that I read so many of these, i could never be a volunteer for these kinds of studies (or medical studies). i'm too aware of the process and the placebo factor that i'd be spending a lot of time wondering if i was actually in the placebo group.

that's actually the one negative of teaching more people about placebos - while we create people more skeptical of pseudoscience and silly religious claims, we also might make people more aware of the process and how they themselves might be duped by the people conducting the study (even a double-blind one).

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

There's caffeine in coffee? Huh. That explains the last 38 years of my life, then.