Coffee Makes Hard Workers Lazy, Rat Study Suggests

What separates a hard worker from someone who does the bare minimum? New research suggests they have different ways of approaching tasks: The hard worker thinks more about the reward at the end, while the slacker seems to focus more on the effort needed.

However, the research, which was conducted on rats, also reveals a twist: Stimulants like amphetamines seem to flip those approaches. "The workers are choosing fewer of the hard trials, and the slackers are choosing more of the hard trials," said study researcher Jay Hosking, a graduate student at the University of British Columbia.

Caffeine also turns hardworkers into slackers, but doesn't make lazy rats into productive superstars the way amphetamines do. The results of the study appear today (March 28) in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.         Read Here