Caffeine supplementation improves the cognitive abilities and shooting performance of elite e-sports players: a crossover trial
What this study found
Caffeine improved several acute cognitive and shooting outcomes in elite e-sports players. Stroop congruent reaction time was significantly faster with caffeine than placebo (P = 0.023; Cohen's d = 1.2), while Stroop incongruent reaction time was not different (P = 0.478). Visual search reaction time was also faster for the 20-item condition (637.0 ± 101.1 ms vs 728.0 ± 91.9 ms; P = 0.004), with no significant effects for 5, 10, or 15 items. Shooting performance improved as well, including kill ratio (P = 0.020), accuracy (P = 0.008), and average time to target (P = 0.001).
- Study & population
- Healthy male elite e-sports players with professional shooter-game training and international competition experience were studied.
- Intervention
- A single oral dose of caffeine at 3 mg/kg was given as identical capsules 1 hour before testing.
- Key limitation
- The trial was small, with only 9 participants in the caffeine arm, and it tested a single acute dose rather than chronic supplementation.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
We explored the effect of 3 mg/kg of caffeine supplementation on the cognitive ability and shooting performance of elite e-sports players. Nine e-sports players who had received professional training in e-sports and had won at least eighth place in national-level e-sports shooting competitions. After performing three to five familiarization tests, we employed a single blind, randomized crossover design to divide participants into caffeine trial (CAF) and placebo trial (PL). The CAF trial took capsules with 3 mg/kg of caffeine, whereas the PL trial took a placebo capsule. After a one-hour rest, the Stroop task, the visual search ability test, and the shooting ability test were conducted. The CAF trial’s performance in the Stroop task in terms of congruent condition (P = 0.023) and visual search reaction time with 20 items (P = 0.004) was significantly superior to those of the PL trial. In the shooting test, the CAF trial’s kill ratio (P = 0.020) and hit accuracy (P = 0.008) were significantly higher, and the average time to target (P = 0.001) was significantly shorter than those of the PL trial. Caffeine supplementation significantly improves e-sports players’ reaction times and shooting performance.