Caffeine and animal behavior. Analysis of experimental conditions

Cafeína y comportamiento animal. Análisis sobre condiciones experimentales

Objective: The aim is realize theoretical review related to the effect of caffeine on animal behavior in studies that include task learning, memory and motor activity, with the purpose of study some experimental conditions. Materials and methods: Searching of articles published since 1997-2013 in the PubMed and Scopus databases, through the relationship of keywords: caffeine, coffee, rats, mice, attention, memory and learning. The tasks of learning and/or motor activity were reviewed; the type and genus of strains, as well as the treatment with caffeine were analyzed. Results: While some studies indicate that caffeine have a positive effect on motor and cognitive activities, other studies conclude otherwise. The variation in the experimental conditions of the analyzed studies may influence the results obtained. Conclusion: The wide range of experimental conditions in the same memory task does not allow the spectrum of variables to be delineated in the caffeine research protocols, accordingly is not possible to identify biologically important variables that, when identified, may converge towards a Set of standardized procedures in specific learning paradigms.