AH Bio Ivestigation Help :)

[RandomSugar5]

Emm, well ive recently decided to do my investiagtion on the affects of caffine on short term memory and reaction times, but im not to sure how to go about it, also weither i should use caffiene tablets or use placebos but how to make it that no one can tell the difference, my teacher has oked it but hasnt said much else so any advice or ideas would be awsum! :) thnx

[factor-fiction]

Reaction times:
Give some placebos and some caffeine. Get participants to sit next to a metre ruler with their hands 30cm apart. Drop a penny from one metre high and record the height at which they catch it. You can film it to get an accurate record.

[theprof]

If I've got it, I'm assuming that you're still at school. Bearing this in mind, I'd advise you to think very carefully about pursuing this investigation. The final decision will remain yours, but I think you're teacher should have made you aware of the pitfalls.

Firstly, I'd like you to think on the way you're going to get the cohorts to consume the caffeine. If you're thinking of caffeine via instant coffee etc, your placebo group have to consume a liquid that tastes like coffee yet contains no caffeine. Now the obvious answer to this is decaffeinated coffee. However, the word decaffeinated is a misnomer as even that is not caffeine free. The caffeine is reduced in comparison to real coffee but not eliminated altogether. Now even a minute amount of caffeine in these circumstances can affect cognitive ability, so you cannot say that one cohort is consuming no caffeine whilst the other is doing so.

Let's move on to caffeine tablets. Now, you'd agree that someone has to give these tablets to the different groups. This means that you'd be doing what are known as either a single-blind or double-blind trial. I think you might find it useful if you looked up these terms on wikipedia etc for you to see if you think can conform to the thinking behind these trial types. These trial types are recognised scientific methods and varying them to fit your own needs is not really acceptable because your conclusions might be in error. In addition, if you're talking about handing each participant a caffeine tablet or placebo, you have to remember that the placebo must be absolutely identical in colour, size and weight to the caffeine tablet. How would you source such a placebo?

Returning to these single and double blind trials, do you consider that you wouldn't influence the cohort groups when you give out the real caffeine tablets and/or placebos?

(continued)

[theprof]

Finally, caffeine can be a dangerous substance and people have reacted badly to to the 50mg to 100mg of caffeine contained in a single caffeine tablet. Despite what the manufacturers say, 50mg of caffeine is far more than you'd find in your average cup of ordinary coffee. Bearing in mind, it's such a powerful substance, caffeine experiments are usually performed under strict methodologies in clinics and laboratories where the effects you're looking for can be monitored over 24 hour periods. Caffeine intoxication must be avoided at all costs and I can't see how it's feasible for you to do this in your present circumstances. I'm afraid your teacher sounds very naive about the dangers here.

Memory improvement after caffeine intake takes hours, days and weeks to come about to a measurable extent. How would you monitor the influence of other stimulants on the groups over this length of time?

I've spent years involved in monitoring and setting up trials of this sort in biological sciences and they all need a great deal of thought beforehand. I've only outlined potential problems here and there are quite a few others that come to mind. Try Googling for further information on caffeine and memory/reaction times and see what you think. I'm very sorry if I sound very pessimistic over this but safety is of paramount importance when investigating the effects of caffeine.

[theprof]

Hmm. "Give some placebos and some caffeine". How do you do that then?

[factor-fiction]

Prof- give some participants caffeine and some particpants placebos.
But i agree with your points and I don't think it's easy.

[theprof]

factor30, you said that some should be given placebos and some caffeine. In itself, this is a simple enough statement. However, I would ask exactly how do you do it. What do these placebos look like? Are they sufficiently identical to the caffeine tablets so that the participants are unable to tell the difference between the placebos and the caffeine tablets? How would Randomsugar5 obtain such as specific placebo bearing in mind he or she is a school pupil? Is this really feasible in your opinion?

Go on, tell me how precisely (and I mean, precisely) you would give some participants caffeine and some placebos. Spell it out to me. Your opinions may well revolutionise current thinking on the matter and i have no doubt that your suggestions will be amply rewarded by the scientific community.

[ll_billym]

You need to crush off-the-shelf caffiene tablets up into a powder and put the powder into the little capsules that pull apart.

Also do this for the placebo powder capsules. The capsules will look identical and taste identical as the capsules will only melt in the stomach.

http://www.capsuline.com/index.php?cPath=1_5

Do I get a nobel prize prof?

[theprof]

I'd love to recommend you for a Nobel Prize ll_billym - my opinion is sought now and again by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The problem with your suggestion is that it will introduce a group of people into the investigation who will know whether or not the capsules contain caffeine or an innocuous placebo. Doing this at ground-level runs the risk of of these capsule fillers disclosing what they've done to the cohort groups intentionally or otherwise. This could destroy the investigation at a stroke.

In addition, capsule filling is laborious and tedious to say the least when it's done by hand. Remember that it would be impossible for RandomSugar5 to access commercial capsule filling equipment due to the expense. Likewise, he/she couldn't contract such a job to a pharmaceutical company for the same reasons. It's really not feasible to fill capsules by hand given the likely number needed to complete this project..

[ll_billym]

Well I thought that as far as making the placebo appear identical to the 'real' drug, my suggestion hits the spot. And as for filling up capsules I think it would be a far better use of a students time than clogging up the bar at my local whilst dressed in a silly costume.

As for the placebo effect, bias, etc. you know far more than I ever will so I'll leave it there I think but if you could drop my name at the next committee meeting I'd be much obliged.

[eltelioni]

Rather then mess with caffeine tablets I suggest you use caffeinated and caffeine-free variants of popular soft drinks.

[mibn2cweus]

The Most Notable Professor . . . just checking ;o)

[heathfield]

As someone who drinks a large amount of coffee every day, I suddenly came up with the answer to placebos versus the real thing - but I've forgotten what it was... :-)