MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Eugene Chan, PhD Senior Lecturer in Marketing Monash Business School Monash University Australia and  Sam Maglio PhD Associate Professor of Marketing Department of Management University of Toronto  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: The physiological effects of coffee and caffeine consumption have been well-studied, but we were interested in the psychological effects. Especially in Western societies, there is a mental association between coffee and arousal – that coffee is an arousing beverage. This led us to ask, might this association itself produce the psychological “lift” without actually drinking beverages? We found that it does. Merely seeing pictures of coffee or thinking about coffee can increase arousal, heart rates, and make people more focused. The effects are not as strong as actually drinking coffee of course, but they are still noticeable. (more…)