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Caffeine, but not nicotine, enhances visual feature binding.

Colzato LS, Fagioli S, Erasmus V, Hommel B

Leiden University, Department of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology Unit, Postbus 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, the Netherlands.

The distributed organization of the human visual cortex calls for a mechanism that integrates and binds the features of a perceived event, and neural synchronization is a prime candidate to serve that purpose. Animal studies suggest that synchronization in the visual cortex is enhanced by the muscarinic cholinergic system. Here we show that in healthy humans the binding of shape and colour, and of shape and location, of visual objects is increased by stimulating the muscarinic cholinergic system (caffeine consumption) but not by stimulating the nicotinic cholinergic system (nicotine consumption). Binding across perception and action is unaffected by either manipulation, suggesting a specific link between the visual system and the muscarinic cholinergic system.

Published 27 January 2005 in Eur J Neurosci, 21(2): 591-5.
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