【NPR新闻】咖啡的神奇作用(3/3)

英语自学网

概述：咖啡能提高蜜蜂们的记忆能力，那对于人类呢？
        Hints:  
        Abraham Palmer  
        University of Chicago
        Harris Lieberman
        Navy SEALs
Caffeine absolutely influences our behavior. It changes mood and performance in a variety of different ways.
That's Abraham Palmer of the University of Chicago. He says due to genetic differences, our individual responses to caffeine vary. But studies show that caffeine does work on our brain's reward system, and in moderate doses can help improve attention and performance on all sorts of mental and physical tasks. Some of the best studies come from the U.S. military, where caffeine has been studied as a way to keep soldiers alert.
Researcher Harris Lieberman explains he studied a group of sailors who were training to become Navy SEALs.
During one portion of that training, they are substantially sleep deprived and exposed to a variety of other stressors.
Including cold temperatures and demanding physical activities. Lieberman says when he compared the sailors who consumed caffeine compared to those who had a non-caffeinated placebo, he documented a range of benefits.
We found that in moderate doses, caffeine enhanced ability to pay attention, it enhanced vigilance.
And it seemed to improve the exhausted sailors' short-term memories, something Lieberman was not expecting to see.
We were somewhat surprised that caffeine had such widespread effects.
But Lieberman says, in the absence of exhaustion, caffeine doesn't seem to help people remember any better. So he doesn't think that caffeine is much of a memory booster.
No, I don't.
But whether it's humans or those bees, there's clearly something about caffeine that keeps us coming back for more.