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Whoa: Coffee May Cause Auditory Hallucinations, Says Science
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Jun 9, 2011
Modified Jun 9, 2011
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By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Jun 9, 2011
Modified Jun 9, 2011
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Just when we thought coffee was finally good for you, science comes and throws some freaky-sounding stuff our way: apparently, a high coffee intake may cause auditory hallucinations, which is kind of a neat party trick, but not really good news for everyday drinkers who don't want to be That Scary Guy on the train.
A group of Australian scientists found that drinking just five cups of coffee can be enough to make you hear things that are all inside your head, man. How did they do it? By asking participants to listen to three minutes of white noise, and asking them to hit a buzzer when they heard Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" start to play. The catch? It never plays! And yet, highly caffeinated people pounced all over that buzzer. Tricky, tricky scientists. The findings do match up to a 2009 study showing that people riding high on three cups of coffee were three times more likely to see or hear things that aren't there.
Good and paranoid yet? It's not the first time science has tricked us in the name of knowledge: it happens with wine and salt tastings, too. We look forward to tomorrow's Daily Mail story about the scary new trend of freaked-out American teenagers jumping out of windows with a head full of caffeine.
Tagged
coffee
hallucinogens
health
paranoid
science
Jamie Feldmar
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