Impact of the sensory and postprandial properties of energy drinks on cognition

The impact of energy drinks and their ingredients on cognitive functioning has been of considerable scientific interest in recent years; however studies investigating cognitive effects of energy drink consumption have centred on the postprandial impact, that is the influence of their ingredients on...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mason, C.
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
English
Published: 2012
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14459/
_version_ 1848791966232346624
author Mason, C.
author_facet Mason, C.
author_sort Mason, C.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The impact of energy drinks and their ingredients on cognitive functioning has been of considerable scientific interest in recent years; however studies investigating cognitive effects of energy drink consumption have centred on the postprandial impact, that is the influence of their ingredients once absorbed into the blood. It is possible however, that sensory perception of these drinks, or their ingredients can influence cognition. The four studies outlined in this thesis aim to examine the influences of sensory perception of energy drinks in human volunteers and compare these with the effects observed in the postprandial period on a range of cognitive tasks. Postprandially energy drink treatments were observed to reduce reaction times and improve accuracy compared with a placebo control in a saccadic peripheral conflict task when a 200ms gap was present between a pre-stimulus cue and the stimulus; however when this gap was absent accuracy decreased, suggesting treatment had affected information processing and decision making processes. Sensory perception of a non-carbonated energy drink was observed to improve reaction time and accuracy in a manual choice reaction time task irrespective of gap presence, however an artificially sweetened placebo energy drink had similar effects, but only when the pre-stimulus gap was present. This thesis demonstrates that energy drinks can influence behavioural performance not only by increasing plasma glucose and caffeine levels in the postprandial period, but also through chemosensory perception, an effect elicited by the reward value of taste and flavour perception which is perhaps related to the calorific content of carbohydrates.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T18:36:54Z
format Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
id nottingham-14459
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
language English
English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T18:36:54Z
publishDate 2012
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-144592025-02-28T11:30:59Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14459/ Impact of the sensory and postprandial properties of energy drinks on cognition Mason, C. The impact of energy drinks and their ingredients on cognitive functioning has been of considerable scientific interest in recent years; however studies investigating cognitive effects of energy drink consumption have centred on the postprandial impact, that is the influence of their ingredients once absorbed into the blood. It is possible however, that sensory perception of these drinks, or their ingredients can influence cognition. The four studies outlined in this thesis aim to examine the influences of sensory perception of energy drinks in human volunteers and compare these with the effects observed in the postprandial period on a range of cognitive tasks. Postprandially energy drink treatments were observed to reduce reaction times and improve accuracy compared with a placebo control in a saccadic peripheral conflict task when a 200ms gap was present between a pre-stimulus cue and the stimulus; however when this gap was absent accuracy decreased, suggesting treatment had affected information processing and decision making processes. Sensory perception of a non-carbonated energy drink was observed to improve reaction time and accuracy in a manual choice reaction time task irrespective of gap presence, however an artificially sweetened placebo energy drink had similar effects, but only when the pre-stimulus gap was present. This thesis demonstrates that energy drinks can influence behavioural performance not only by increasing plasma glucose and caffeine levels in the postprandial period, but also through chemosensory perception, an effect elicited by the reward value of taste and flavour perception which is perhaps related to the calorific content of carbohydrates. 2012-07-11 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14459/7/2Mason%20588093.pdf application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14459/1/588093.pdf Mason, C. (2012) Impact of the sensory and postprandial properties of energy drinks on cognition. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.
spellingShingle Mason, C.
Impact of the sensory and postprandial properties of energy drinks on cognition
title Impact of the sensory and postprandial properties of energy drinks on cognition
title_full Impact of the sensory and postprandial properties of energy drinks on cognition
title_fullStr Impact of the sensory and postprandial properties of energy drinks on cognition
title_full_unstemmed Impact of the sensory and postprandial properties of energy drinks on cognition
title_short Impact of the sensory and postprandial properties of energy drinks on cognition
title_sort impact of the sensory and postprandial properties of energy drinks on cognition
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14459/