Gum can be more than just a mouth freshener. A new study reveals that chewing gum boosts concentration during time consuming tasks, reports Medical Xpress.
British researchers conducted a study where they looked at the benefits of chewing gum while performing audio memory tasks. Previous studies have shown that chewing gum can significantly boost concentration levels while performing visual memory tasks, says the report.
Kate Morgan of Cardiff University, who is the author of the study, along with her team conducted experiments to understand if chewing gum improved concentration in "an audio task that involved short-term memory recall." The study included 38 participants who were monitored while they performed a 30-minute audio memory task.
Two groups were formed in order to see the difference in the performance of these participants, where one group was allowed to chew gum as it did the task. Numbers from one to nine were read aloud in random order and both groups were made to listen to them. The participants' task was to find out a sequence of odd-even-odd number, such as seven-two-one or three-eight-five.
As the performances were closely monitored, it was noticed that the group of participants' who did not chew gum while they performed the task were a little better during the initial stage, but the other group who chewed gum during the tasks had much accurate results and quicker response, said Morgan.
"This suggests that chewing gum helps us focus on tasks that require continuous monitoring over a longer amount of time," she said in a new release.
The findings of the study are published in an online journal British Journal of Psychology.
