Acute effects of caffeine on threat-selective attention: moderation by anxiety and EEG theta/beta ratio.

Dana van Son, Rik Schalbroeck, Angelos Angelidis, Nic J A van der Wee, Willem van der Does, Peter Putman

Journal: Biological psychology 2019;136():100-110

PMID: 29792908

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Spontaneous EEG theta/beta ratio (TBR) probably marks prefrontal cortical (PFC) executive control, and its regulation of attentional threat-bias. Caffeine at moderate doses may strengthen executive control through increased PFC catecholamine action, dependent on basal PFC function.

GOAL

To test if caffeine affects threat-bias, moderated by baseline frontal TBR and trait-anxiety.

METHODS

A pictorial emotional Stroop task was used to assess threat-bias in forty female participants in a cross-over, double-blind study after placebo and 200 mg caffeine.

RESULTS

At baseline and after placebo, comparable relations were observed for negative pictures: high TBR was related to low threat-bias in low trait-anxious people. Caffeine had opposite effects on threat-bias in low trait-anxious people with low and high TBR.

CONCLUSIONS

This further supports TBR as a marker of executive control and highlights the importance of taking baseline executive function into consideration when studying effects of caffeine on executive functions.

Address: Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: [email protected].; Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.; Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands.; Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden, The Netherlands.; Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands; Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden, The Netherlands.

DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.05.006

Link outs

Free resources

Medical:

Other Literature Sources:

https://scite.ai/reports/29792908

Miscellaneous:

https://assays.cancer.gov/non-CPTAC-3605

Subscription / membership required

Full Text Sources:

https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0301...

MeSH Terms: Adult, Anxiety, Attentional Bias, Beta Rhythm, Caffeine, Central Nervous System Stimulants, Cross-Over Studies, Double-Blind Method, Electroencephalography, Emotions, Executive Function, Female, Humans, Prefrontal Cortex, Stroop Test, Theta Rhythm, Young Adult