Caffeine consumption and memory task performance - Systematic Review

The search criteria included an electronic search of “Web of Science” database from the commencement of the databases to 27 November 2015. The search terms used were “coffee” AND “memory” AND “cognit*” in topic area of search in order to conduct a review of caffeine consumption and performance in memory tasks. The search resulted in 80 articles out of which ten were excluded during screening of document type for only primary articles. Further screening of eligibility for articles was done where caffeine consumption was reported either by self-reports of daily caffeine intake by subjects or clinical induction of caffeine by researchers and if memory tests was performed to measure memory. This final screening resulted in 24 articles from which research area of study, caffeine assessed, population studied, caffeine treatment/ level studied and if it was induced or reported, number and names of memory tests used, aspect of memory tested for and finally which caffeine group showed significant effect on memory and on which aspect of memory. The specific extraction factors were used to review the extent of memory tests used to test caffeine’s effect on performance in different aspects of memory.