Chew on this: No support for facilitating effects of gum on spatial task performance

Objective

To determine whether chewing of gum facilitates spatial task performance in healthy participants, two behavioral experiments were performed.

Design

In the first experiment, spatial task performance of 349 men and women preceding and after treatment administration (saccharated chewing gum, sugar-free chewing gum, no chewing gum) was assessed using effect modeling by means of Item Response Theory. In the second experiment, another 100 participants were either administered sugar-free chewing gum or no chewing gum during spatial task performance. Effects of gum in the second study were assessed by standard means of data analysis.

Results

Results indicated no significant effects of either chewing gum or sugar on spatial task performance in either experiment.

Conclusions

Our findings are consistent with recent studies investigating the influences of chewing gum on various memory functions, extending them by another measure of cognitive ability. Thus, further doubt is cast on enhancing effects of chewing gum on cognitive task performance.