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Interactions of smoking and lunch with the effects of caffeine on cardiovascular functions and information processing
Author(s) -
Hasenfratz M.,
Jaquet F.,
Aeschbach D.,
Bättig K.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
human psychopharmacology: clinical and experimental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.461
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1099-1077
pISSN - 0885-6222
DOI - 10.1002/hup.470060403
Subject(s) - caffeine , blood pressure , heart rate , diastole , medicine , psychology , cardiology
Two experiments were done in order to verify earlier findings of caffeinic improvements of rapid information processing and to investigate possible interactive effects with smoking and eating. The first of these experiments investigated the interactive effects of caffeine and smoking a cigarette on rapid information processing (RIP), heart rate and blood pressure. Both treatments improved performance, but the effects were not additive. Heart rate increased as a consequence of smoking but not of caffeine. Both substances increased systolic blood pressure (SBP), and the effects were additive, while only caffeine increased diastolic blood pressure (DBP). The second experiment investigated in a similar paradigm the interactive effects of caffeine and a lunch. The lunch alone increased heart rate and decreased DBP, while it increased performance only slightly. Caffeine alone increased SBP, DBP and performance, but in combination with a lunch all three effects were dampened. Thus, these results confirm earlier findings of a facilitative effect of caffeine on information processing, and extend these observations to the behavioural states after a lunch and in combination with cigarette smoking.