Caffeine effects on resting-state arousal.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined the use of caffeine to manipulate arousal level without the confounds associated with task-related activation. From previous work in our laboratory, an increase in skin conductance level (SCL) and EEG alpha frequency, together with a global decrease in alpha power, were used as markers of arousal increase, and we sought to identify these effects with caffeine ingestion.


METHODS
We examined the effect of a single oral dose of caffeine (250 mg) in a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled repeated-measures cross-over study. Eighteen healthy university students (mean age 21 years; 13/18 females) participated in two sessions 1 week apart. EEG and autonomic data (SCL, heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and respiration rate) from a 2 min eyes-closed epoch, commencing approximately 30 min after ingestion of caffeine or placebo, were examined.


RESULTS
Caffeine was associated with increased SCL, a global reduction in EEG power in the alpha band, and a global increase in alpha frequency. There were no cardiovascular effects.


CONCLUSIONS
The positive results are consistent with recent electrodermal and EEG studies of arousal and suggest that caffeine may be utilised as a task-free means of manipulating arousal in future investigations. Further work is necessary to clarify the absence of cardiovascular effects, and to integrate those data with emerging conceptualisations of arousal and activation.


CONCLUSIONS
The present data support the use of caffeine as a simple tool to explore the role of arousal in both normal and atypical functioning, and this may be useful in determining the validity and importance of supposed hyper- or hypo-arousal in such syndromes as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD).
Barry
Robert J
RJ
Brain & Behaviour Research Institute and Department of Psychology, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia. robert_barry@uow.edu.au
Rushby
Jacqueline A
JA
Wallace
Mark J
MJ
Clarke
Adam R
AR
Johnstone
Stuart J
SJ
Zlojutro
Ilinka
I
D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm / Q000187:drug effects; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects*; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012146:Rest
D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D002110:Caffeine