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Glucose administration and cognitive function: differential effects of age and effort during a dual task paradigm in younger and older adults

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Abstract

Rationale

Current research suggests that glucose facilitates performance on cognitive tasks which possess an episodic memory component and a relatively high level of cognitive demand. However, the extent to which this glucose facilitation effect is uniform across the lifespan is uncertain.

Methods

This study was a repeated measures, randomised, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial designed to assess the cognitive effects of glucose in younger and older adults under single and dual task conditions. Participants were 24 healthy younger (average age 20.6 years) and 24 healthy older adults (average age 72.5 years). They completed a recognition memory task after consuming drinks containing 25 g glucose and a placebo drink, both in the presence and absence of a secondary tracking task.

Results and conclusions

Glucose enhanced recognition memory response time and tracking precision during the secondary task, in older adults only. These findings do not support preferential targeting of hippocampal function by glucose, rather they suggest that glucose administration differentially increases the availability of attentional resources in older individuals.

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Acknowledgments

This study is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council with grant number BBD0125971 and 28 Australian Research Council with grant number DP1093834.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Swinburne University, Melbourne, VIC, 3122, Australia

    Helen Macpherson, Con Stough & Andrew Scholey

  2. Psychology Department, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YF, UK

    Bernadette Roberstson & Sandra Sünram-Lea

  3. Brain, Performance and Nutrition Research Centre, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK

    David Kennedy

Authors
  1. Helen Macpherson
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  2. Bernadette Roberstson
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  3. Sandra Sünram-Lea
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  4. Con Stough
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  5. David Kennedy
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  6. Andrew Scholey
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Correspondence to Andrew Scholey.

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Macpherson, H., Roberstson, B., Sünram-Lea, S. et al. Glucose administration and cognitive function: differential effects of age and effort during a dual task paradigm in younger and older adults. Psychopharmacology 232, 1135–1142 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-014-3750-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-014-3750-8

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