Caffeine and attention

For centuries, caffeine-containing substances have been believed to enhance human alertness and mental efficiency.1 Indeed, many laboratory studies conducted over the past 80 years provide experimental evidence confirming this belief, although the exact nature of the effects of caffeine on performance remains to be specified.2-5 The present paper evaluates some recent studies concerned with the effects of caffeine on the performance of selective-attention and sustained-attention tasks. The aim is to provide a brief account of our current understanding of the effects of caffeine on human attention and information processing.