Effects of Caffeine and Its Cortical Response Studied by Functional Brain Imaging

Abstract

The effects of caffeine on cognitive function have been investigated with pharmaceutical and metabolic activities, providing the enhanced cognitive performance, such as working memory and sustained attention. In this chapter, caffeine-induced changes in the cortical regions are investigated using functional imaging techniques, such as blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) in the human brain. The common cortical regions between fMRI and PET, such as putamen, insula, and posterior medial cortex, where significant changes occurred after caffeine ingestion, are well known to play an important role in cognitive function like attention. This suggests that the effect of caffeine correlates with the reduced metabolism in the basal ganglia and default mode network, derived by modulating the attentional areas. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.