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THE EFFECTS OF CHEWING GUM ON MEMORY AND CONCENTRATION

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BACKGROUND Increases to functional attention as a result of pharmaceutical advances have enhanced the lives of individuals with attention deficit disorders and their ability to function properly during everyday life. [1] Although there have been many studies done on the relationship of memory, concentration and chewing gum, the question of does it really help students perform better in classwork such as tests has been vague. In order to further test this study, I set up a controlled testing environment, in which I observed and recorded student concentration behaviors and memory test scores, with and without chewing gum. METHODS Participants were subjected to experimental conditions (Chewing Gum vs. Not Chewing Gum) during two trails and were expected to perform random tasks as directed in the folders given to them. Students in the study were under video surveillance and the video footage was used to monitor expressive behavior that would indicate a distracted state over the course of the study. [1] RESULTS All sixteen subjects displayed distracted behaviors when gum was not presented to them in the non-chewing gum trial whereas, the same subjects were more focused and attentive when gum was presented to them in the gum chewing trial, regardless of the randomized trials. CONCLUSIONS After each trail was taken place, there was a high correlation between chewing gum with memory and concentration. As when the gum was not provided, participants did not engage in the activities assigned and lost focus.
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