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Belief in caffeine's ergogenic effect on cognitive function and endurance performance: A sham dose-response study.

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Belief in caffeine's performance benefits did not affect cognitive or running outcomes in healthy individuals. This study found no influence of perceived ergogenic potential on choice reaction time or 10km run performance.

Keywords:
placeboreaction timerunningsupplement

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Area of Science:

  • Sports Science
  • Human Performance
  • Nutritional Science

Background:

  • Caffeine is widely believed to enhance athletic performance.
  • The psychological impact of perceived ergogenic effects requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if belief in caffeine's ergogenic potential influences choice reaction time (CRT) and 10km running performance.
  • To determine if perceived caffeine effects interact with actual physiological responses.

Main Methods:

  • Twenty-nine healthy participants completed two trials, receiving either a low (100mg) or high (300mg) dose of sham caffeine.
  • Participants self-reported beliefs and experience with caffeine for performance enhancement.
  • Choice reaction time (Ex-Gaussian analysis) and 10km run times were measured post-ingestion.

Main Results:

  • Sham caffeine dose did not significantly alter CRT latency (p > 0.05).
  • Running performance (10km time) was not affected by sham caffeine dose (p = 0.979).
  • Neither belief nor belief combined with experience influenced CRT or running performance.

Conclusions:

  • A dose-response relationship to sham caffeine was not observed in cognitive or endurance tasks.
  • Perceived ergogenic effects of caffeine do not appear to influence objective performance measures in healthy individuals.
  • Individual beliefs about caffeine do not mediate its physiological impact on performance.