The acute effects of cocoa flavanols on temporal and spatial attention

Karabay, A., Saija, J. D., Field, D. T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4041-8404 and Akyurek, E. G. (2018) The acute effects of cocoa flavanols on temporal and spatial attention. Psychopharmacology, 235 (5). pp. 1497-1511. ISSN 0033-3158 doi: 10.1007/s00213-018-4861-4

Abstract/Summary

In this study, we investigated how the acute physiological effects of cocoa flavanols might result in specific cognitive changes, in particular in temporal and spatial attention. To this end, we pre-registered and implemented a randomized, double-blind, placebo- and baseline-controlled crossover design. A sample of 48 university students participated in the study and each of them completed the experimental tasks in four conditions (baseline, placebo, low dose, and high-dose flavanol), administered in separate sessions with a 1-week washout interval. A rapid serial visual presentation task was used to test flavanol effects on temporal attention and integration, and a visual search task was similarly employed to investigate spatial attention. Results indicated that cocoa flavanols improved visual search efficiency, reflected by reduced reaction time. However, cocoa flavanols did not facilitate temporal attention nor integration, suggesting Potential underlying mechanisms are discussed.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/76288
Identification Number/DOI	10.1007/s00213-018-4861-4
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Nutrition and Health
Publisher	Springer Verlag
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