The Effect of Robusta Coffee on Short Term Memory

Abstract

Robusta coffee is widely comsumed in Indonesia because it easy to find, the selling price is lower and has higher levels of caffeine. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of robusta coffee on short-term memory on grade IV students of Faculty of Medicine, University of Islam Bandung academic year 2016-2017. The research was carried out at the Faculty of Medicine of Islamic University of Bandung during January 2017 until July 2017. This research is an experimental research with cross sectional research design. The study was conducted on 36 subjects in accordance with inclusion and exclusion criteria, and divided into four study groups, one group of decaffein as control and three groups given an intervention of robusta coffee with 50 mg, 100 mg and 200 mg of caffeine. Short-term memory is measured using digit span test (DST) before and 20 minutes after intervention. The statistical analysis was performed using paired t test and ANOVA, with α = 0,05. The t test results show that there is an increase of the average of forward DST results in robusta coffee group with caffeine 50 mg, 100 mg, and 200 mg, and backward DST in robusta coffee group 50 mg and 100 mg, but the results are not significant. The ANOVA test showed no significant different research groups. Caffeine contained in coffee can increase short-term memory by competing antagonists against adenosine, a metabolite of ATP to increase alertness and increase short-term memory The conclusion of this research is that there is no effect of robusta coffee on short-term student memory of FK UNISBA level and there is no difference of robusta coffee effect with caffeine content 50 mg, 100 mg and 200 mg to short term memory.