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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

A Method for Manipulating Blood Glucose and Measuring Resulting Changes in Cognitive Accessibility of Target Stimuli
Published on: August 12, 2016
The effect of glucose administration on the recollection and familiarity components of recognition memory
Sandra I Sünram-Lea1, Stephen A Dewhurst, Jonathan K Foster
1Department of Psychology, Fylde College, University of Lancaster, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK. s.sunram-lea@lancaster.ac.uk
Abstract:
Previous research has demonstrated that glucose administration facilitates long-term memory performance. The aim of the present research was to evaluate the effect of glucose administration on different components of long-term recognition memory. Fifty-six healthy young individuals received (a) a drink containing 25 g of glucose or (b) an inert placebo drink. Recollection and familiarity components of recognition memory were measured using the 'remember-know' paradigm. The results revealed that glucose administration led to significantly increased proportion of recognition responses based on recollection, but had no effect on the proportion of recognition responses made through participants' detection of stimulus familiarity. Consequently, the data suggest that glucose administration appears to facilitate recognition memory that is accompanied by recollection of contextual details and episodic richness. The findings also suggest that memory tasks that result in high levels of hippocampal activity may be more likely to be enhanced by glucose administration than tasks that are less reliant on medial temporal lobe structures.
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