500 word essay chewing gum
Humans have chewed gum for thousands of years American Dental Association, Company This early form of gum was the sap of the spruce tree from when it is cut Wrigley. Chewing Gum Chewing gum has been an old tradition all the way back before the Europeans discovered North America. In our time, it is enjoyed by people young and old and comes in many varieties. But what some people don't know is why gum is pink.
A Brief Essay on Chewing Gum – Olivia Heiner
Recent evidence has indicated that chewing gum can enhance attention, as well as promoting well-being and work performance. Four studies two experiments and two intervention studies examined the robustness of and mechanisms for these effects.
Study 1 investigated the acute effect of gum on mood in the absence of task performance. Study 2 examined the effect of rate and force of chewing on mood and attention performance.
Study 3 assessed the effects of chewing gum during one working day on well-being and performance, as well as postwork mood and cognitive performance. In Study 4, performance and well-being were reported throughout the workday and at the end of the day, and heart rate and cortisol were measured.
Under experimental conditions, gum was associated with higher alertness regardless of whether performance tasks were completed and altered sustained attention. Rate of chewing and subjective force of chewing did not alter mood but had some limited effects on attention. Chewing gum during the workday was associated with higher productivity and fewer cognitive problems, raised cortisol levels in the morning, and did not affect heart rate.
The results emphasise that chewing gum can attenuate reductions in alertness, suggesting that chewing gum enhances worker performance. Chewing gum can enhance alertness and sustained attention, although its effects upon stress may differ depending upon whether chronic or acute stress is examined; see reviews by Allen and Smith [ 1 ] and Hirano and Onozuka [ 2 ].
Chewing gum has enhanced sustained attention performance in previous research [ 3 , 4 ], consistent with an alerting effect of chewing gum [ 4 — 6 ]. There is some evidence that this effect may be moderated by time-on-task, with the ameliorating effect of gum being greater following a long period of performance [ 6 , 7 ]. Neuropsychological data further confirms an enhancement of sustained attention by gum.
The event related potential P, which is associated with vigilance, had a shortened latency following chewing gum [ 8 ], and frontal and temporal beta power were heightened by chewing gum following performance of a sustained attention task [ 9 ]. Quantitative EEG effects of chewing gum without cognitive performance seem to be moderated by flavour [ 10 , 11 ], suggesting that alertness may be altered by chewing gum in the absence of cognitive performance.
Quickening of reaction time on an adapted version of the attention network task [ 12 ] was associated with increased activity in motor regions for alerting and executive networks, as well as the anterior cingulate cortex and left frontal gyrus for the executive network [ 13 ]. Hirano et al. Although there is evidence that more vigorous chewing or greater resistance to chewing does not moderate chewing effects on memory [ 14 , 15 ], the fact that chewing gum can enhance arousal which is depleted by attention tasks e.
Consistent with an alerting effect of chewing gum under laboratory conditions, chewing gum during the workday has also been shown to enhance self-reported productivity both in university staff [ 16 ] and in university students [ 17 ], consistent with an improvement in sustained attention. Although chewing gum has been associated with increased heart rate in experimental studies [ 9 , 18 ] it remains unclear if sympathetic nervous system arousal may explain enhanced performance in an everyday working context.
People who chew gum habitually report less stress [ 19 , 20 ], and chewing gum has reduced anxiety [ 21 ] and reported stress [ 22 ] induced by an acute social stressor, although other studies have not found a reduction on acute stress or anxiety [ 23 , 24 ]. If chewing gum can reduce feelings of stress it may attenuate feelings of depression, a stress-related disorder.
Strikingly, in a clinical sample of mild-moderately depressed patients, depression was reduced to a greater extent when gum was administered with antidepressant medication, compared to medication alone [ 25 ]. In a nonclinical sample, chewing gum for two weeks can reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression in university staff [ 16 ], as well as reducing stress in university students [ 17 ].
In summary, it would appear that there is clearer evidence for an ameliorating effect of gum on chronic stress compared to acute stress [ 1 ]. Given this contrast between short- and long-term effects, it remains unclear if a shorter intervention one day can reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression in a sample of working adults.
The current research aims to examine the effect of gum on well-being and cognitive performance by combining the study of chewing effects under controlled conditions with a more naturalistic examination of chewing gum during the workday.
We firstly examined the acute effect of chewing gum on mood in the absence of cognitive performance Study 1: Mood Effects in the Absence of Performance. Although previous research on mood effects of gum has examined chewing in the absence of cognitive performance, this has been in the context of sleep deprivation [ 26 ] or neurological testing, rather than under less demanding conditions.
We then assessed the effects of intensity of chewing on mood and cognitive performance Study 2: Rate of Chewing, Mood, and Cognition. To examine subjective and performance effects of chewing gum on an ongoing basis in a naturalistic setting we then tested the effects of chewing gum on well-being and performance during a single workday, to examine if effects observed over longer intervention periods are robust enough to be demonstrated within this time frame Study 3: Working Day Intervention: Well-Being and Performance.
The final study again examined a single workday intervention Study 4: Working Day Intervention: Well-Being, Performance, and Physiology ; underlying physiological mechanisms for effects on well-being and performance, which have previously been studied only under more acute testing conditions, were probed by examining changes in salivary cortisol and heart rate over the course of the working day while chewing gum.
All studies described in this paper received ethical approval from Cardiff University's School of Psychology Ethics Committee and were conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Participants were mostly students from the School of Psychology, Cardiff University. For all studies, people taking medication, who reported medical problems, who consumed more than 40 units of alcohol per week, or who smoked more than 10 cigarettes in the daytime and evening, were excluded from participation.
Participants were recruited through a university notice board and an online experiment management system. Chewing Gum. Wrigley's extra spearmint and Wrigley's gum base synthetic rubber were provided.
Mood Task. The mood task was presented on a desktop PC. Mood was measured using 18 bipolar visual analogue scales or VAS. There was no time limit for this task. This mood scale has previously shown sensitivity to changes in mood in response to chewing gum [ 6 ]. Testing was scheduled for between Participants filled in questionnaires assessing demographic information and habitual gum consumption on arrival.
They were then provided with two pieces of spearmint gum or gum base if they were in a chewing condition and told to chew constantly throughout the procedure. Immediately after starting to chew gum they completed the initial mood assessment tasks. They were then requested to sit quietly and continue chewing. After 15 minutes, participants in a chewing condition were verbally reminded to continue chewing, and those in the replacement condition were reminded to replace the gum with two new pellets if the current gum had lost its flavour.
Psychology textbooks and journals were available for participants to read, and participants could bring their own reading material. After 25 minutes, the participants filled in the final mood assessment task. The dependent variables were alertness, hedonic tone, and anxiety. Chewing gum and initial and final mood Study 1.
Error bars represent standard error of the mean. Consistent with multiple studies examining chewing gum during cognitive performance, the results of Study 1 indicate that chewing gum may increase alertness in the absence of cognitive performance tasks.
There was also a trend for hedonic tone to be increased by chewing gum. However, in the absence of cognitive performance tasks anxiety was not affected by chewing gum. The observed alerting effect was not dependent upon mint flavor; it may be the case that chewing plays a key role in such an alerting effect.
It is thus of interest if the rate of chewing may moderate alerting effects of gum. This experiment examined if rate of chewing could potentially moderate the effects of gum on attention and mood. Participants were filmed while chewing in order to establish the rate of chewing pilot data indicated good interrater reliability for scoring of number of chews per minute.
As a moderating effect of flavour was not observed in Study 1, participants were given a choice of flavours for this study, as well as Studies 3 and 4. The following chewing gums were available: Wrigley's spearmint, Wrigley's extra flavours: spearmint, peppermint, cool breeze, and ice , and Wrigley's airwaves flavours: cherry, green mint, black mint, menthol, and eucalyptus.
Selective Attention Tasks [ 27 ]. In this task target letters appeared as upper case A's and B's in the centre of the screen. Participants were required to identify as quickly and as accurately as possible if the target letter was an A or a B, by pressing A or B with the forefinger of the left or right hand, while ignoring any distracters presented elsewhere on the screen.
The middle cross was then replaced by the target, and the outer crosses were replaced by distracters in the case of trials with distracters. The outer crosses were separated from the middle cross by 1. The target letter was accompanied by nothing, letters which were the same as the target, letters which were different from the target, or asterisks.
The threshold for long responses was based on previous research [ 28 ]. Breadth of attention was also assessed the difference in reaction time and accuracy between targets with distracters presented near to the target versus targets with distracters at a further distance from the target. The difference in reaction time between conditions where the target changed from the previous trial and where it remained the same was used as a measure of speed of encoding of new information.
Following 10 practice trials, participants completed three blocks of 64 trials. This test lasted approximately 5 minutes. This task was similar to the focused attention task previously outlined, including number of practice and experimental trials.
However, in this task participants did not know where the target would appear. At the start of each trial, two crosses appeared 2. The target then replaced one of these crosses. For half the trials the target was presented alone and for half it was accompanied by a distracter a digit from 1 to 7.
Differences in reaction time and accuracy for trials where the position of the target stimulus and response key were compatible versus where they were incompatible were used as a measure of response organisation. The effect of the stimulus appearing in a different location versus the same location as the previous trial was measured, as well as the effect of not knowing the location of the target.
This task also lasted approximately 5 minutes. In this task a box was displayed on the screen, followed by a square being presented in the middle of the box.
The period of time elapsed before each appearance of the square varied. This task lasted 3 minutes. Repeated Digits Vigilance Task [ 29 ]. Three-digit numbers were shown on the screen at the rate of per minute. Each number was normally different from the preceding one, but for 8 occasions per minute the number presented was the same as that presented on the previous trial. The number of hits correctly detected repetitions , reaction time for hits, and number of false alarms were recorded.
The task lasted 5 minutes. Each participant completed both the chewing gum and no-gum control conditions. Similar to previous studies, gum condition was included as a crossover variable to test if any effects of gum would carry over to a no-gum condition for those who completed the gum condition first. Following informed consent and a familiarisation with the mood and attention tasks, participants completed the mood and attention tasks twice.
Participants were instructed to chew two pieces of gum constantly at their own pace during one of these testing sessions and not to chew during the other testing session. Each set of the mood and attention tasks took approximately 25 minutes, and participants completed the second condition immediately after the first.
Participants selected a packet of gum just before the chewing condition. They were filmed throughout the chewing session. In order to assess the rate of chewing during each task, notes were taken of when each computerised task began and ended.
Free Essays from Help Me | Introduction The words chewing gum can be defined as “a type of soft candy that you chew Page 1 of 50 - About essays. One problem that occurs when students chew gum is that it ends up under the desk; however, because students have to hide the gum they are chewing, there is no.
Most schools do not allow gum, including mine, should it be that way? I was never allowed to chew gum in any of the schools that I attended, but that can change, chewing gum is actually a beneficial thing! Students fall asleep in class, are easily distracted, and are stressed. All of these problems can be solved, or helped by chewing gum, that is why schools should allow gum. To begin with, chewing gum makes the students more alert.
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Chewing Gum: Cognitive Performance, Mood, Well-Being, and Associated Physiology
Pssst… we can write an original essay just for you. Chewing Gum is a mixture of natural or synthetic gums and resins, sweetened with sugar and corn syrup or any other sweeteners. The first chewing gum was patented was in The basic material for all chewing gum is the natural gum called Chicle. It is obtained from the sapodilla tree. Chicle is kind of expensive and hard to buy.
Chewing Gum: Its History And Types
Simply chewing a piece of gum can help solve any of these issues. For example, everyone experiences stress at some point in their life. Whether its from school, work, relationships or life in general. Studies have proven that chewing gum can help relieve stress from someone who is experiencing either acute or chronic stress. Hanna M. Chewing Gum in School Chewing gum in school is a heated issue because many people think it is rude and messy. Others argue it can help students focus, improve memory when taking tests, and relax while doing schoolwork or a test. Still, the actual question that should be debated is what the benefits of chewing gum in school are. Countless, I bet.
There are many issues that face schools, but one of the main issues is gum.
Recent evidence has indicated that chewing gum can enhance attention, as well as promoting well-being and work performance. Four studies two experiments and two intervention studies examined the robustness of and mechanisms for these effects. Study 1 investigated the acute effect of gum on mood in the absence of task performance.
