Caffeine and concentration

If you're like me, sometimes you feel as if you couldn't get anything done at all if it weren't for coffee. I'm sipping from a cup right now as I write this (a double Americano, in case you're curious). Caffeine seems to perk me up just enough to organize my thoughts into a coherent whole.

But Hugo at AlphaPsy points out that caffeine's effects aren't all good. If you give a spider a large dose, her web will be a random mess instead of a beautiful spiral. Even more fascinating are the human responses to arguments while under the influence of caffeine:

In these experiments, people were made to drink an orange juice before they proceeded. In one condition, the orange juice contained some added caffeine: in the other it was pure orange juice. When the attitudes were measured after the persuasive message, it was found that the attitudes of participants under caffeine had changed more than that of the control participants.

But coffee doesn't just make you more gullible: quite the contrary. In another experiment, the researchers studied the effect of argument strength. They did exactly the same thing as in the first case, but this time there were two types of arguments: the strong ones and the weak ones. It turns out that people under caffeine are not more convinced by weak arguments, but only by strong ones. So in fact caffeine makes you more suited to understand the strength of good arguments.

Potent stuff, this caffeine.

In other news:

• Kevin Drum analyzes the election results. Take home message: There is no take home message.
• Cognitive Neuroscientist uses his expertise to win on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" No word on his level of caffeine consumption.
• Analysis of early human teeth shows evidence of varied diet
• Tarantula poison works the same way as spicy peppers. Implications for pain management and chili recipes.
• Good post on PowerPoint
• Better post on PowerPoint -- and now Chad has posted examples

We'll have more on PowerPoint in today's Casual Friday study.