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Event ANT Neuromeeting 2026 - Berlin starts on Jan 15, 2026, 8:00:00 AM (Europe/Berlin)
Studying the effect of energy boost dietary supplementation on the central and autonomic nervous system
(30 minutes)
Studying the effect of energy boost dietary supplementation on the central and autonomic nervous system
Dr. Karina Maciejewska
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland
Dr. Karina Maciejewska
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland
Dr. Karina Maciejewska is a neuroscientist and a physicist. She
graduated from the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, and
completed research fellowships at the Institute of Biomedical
Engineering and Computer Science, Technical University in Ilmenau,
Germany, and the Dynamic Memory Lab at UC Davis, USA. She was also a
post-doc fellow at the Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma. She
currently heads the “Biomedical Signals In Neuroscience: Studying
Brain And Body Functioning” research group at the Institute of
Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University
of Silesia, Katowice, Poland. Together with her students, she works in
the processing and analysis of biomedical signals in neuroscience to
better understand the psychophysiological activity of the human
nervous system and its response to the environment. Her research
focuses on studying electrical brain activity (EEG and ERP) and other
biomedical signals, including electrodermal response (EDA),
electrocardiography (ECG) with heart rate variability (HRV),
electromyography (EMG), and respiratory signal. By using the latest
advances in biomedical engineering, such as virtual reality (VR) and
mobile brain and body imaging (MoBI), she tries to better understand
how human cognitive processes (e.g., attention and memory) work in
natural environments.
Energy dietary supplements are very popular, especially among
individuals with a fast-paced lifestyle. The beneficial role of such
supplements on human cognition has been widely studied. They are
thought to enhance cognitive performance, wakefulness, alertness,
mood, attentional capacity, and decrease fatigue. However, little is
known about the impact of single doses that contain psychostimulants
in only a small amount. Therefore, I’d like to present a line of
research that focuses on the acute effects of a multi-ingredient
energy boost supplement on the central (CNS) and autonomic nervous
system (ANS) of healthy participants. The EEG and ECG signals were
measured in three sessions: before supplementation, 30 min after
supplementation, and 90 min after supplementation across seven tasks:
visual P3, auditory P3, rsEEG with eyes open and closed, Stroop,
arithmetic processing, and motor task. Our results showed an increase
in rsEEG power related to high theta and low alpha bands in the
placebo group, and a reduced P3 amplitude increase after energy
dietary supplementation (compared to the placebo group) throughout all
sessions, along with changes in the classification process speed. We
observed that supplementation also influenced the ANS through changes
in heart electrophysiology. Additional insight was provided by the
multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) that we used to decode the ERPs
in the visual oddball task. These findings show that a single dose of
dietary supplementation with a much smaller dose of caffeine than in
typical caffeinated products may still impact both the CNS and ANS.
The results indicate that using such products before
electrophysiological examinations in research, diagnostics, and
treatment should be considered to control confounding factors.
Finally, since the effects were elicited by an energy boost supplement
in the mentally fatigued participants, it may be of special importance
and enable translation into treatments related to attention, anxiety,
mood, and memory disorders.

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Berlin, January 15th 2026

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