Chewing Gum: Cognitive Performance, Mood, Well-Being, and Associated Physiology

Table 1

Chewing gum, time-on-task, and attention.

	Gum	No gum	Results
Focused attention
Mean reaction time (ms)	Block 1: = 396.14 (5.89); Block 2: = 395.2 (5.38); Block 3: = 400.18 (5.31)	Block 1: = 391.97 (5.85); Block 2: = 397.55 (5.26); Block 3: = 401.39 (5.23)	Gum: (1, 54) = .01, = .94, < .001; Time^**: (2, 108) = 5.82, = .004, = .1; Gum × time: (1.802, 99.12) = 1.44, = .24, = .03; Gum × order: (1, 54) = 3.89, = .054, = .06
Total errors	10.18 (1.12)	10.15 (1.04)	Gum: F(1, 54) = .003, = .96, < .0001; Gum × order: (1, 54) = 5.37, = .02, = .09
Long responses	.27 (.09)	.45 (.21)	Gum: F(1, 54) = .91, = .35, = .02; Gum × order: F(1, 54) = 2.94, = .09, < .05
Breadth of attention^1	18.99 (4.71)	25.83 (5.39)	Gum: F(1, 54) = 1.03, = .32, = .02; Gum × order: F(1, 54) = .78, = .38, = .01
Speed of encoding^2	25.47 (2.77)	24.44 (2.61)	Gum: F(1, 54) = .21, = .64, = .004; Gum × order: (1, 54) = 12.15, < .001, = .18
Categoric search
Total errors	11.16 (.8)	11.84 (.93)	Gum: F(1, 54) = 1.45, = .23, = .03; Gum × order: F(1, 54) = 2.51, = .12, = .04
Long responses	1.66 (.3)	1.87 (.36)	Gum: F(1, 54) = .45, = .5   = .008; Gum × order: F(1, 54) = .83, = .37, = .02
Response organisation^3	27.51 (2.54)	26.88 (2.53)	Gum: F(1, 54) = .05, = .083   = .001; Gum × order: F(1, 54) = .07, = .79, = .001
Speed of encoding	17.69 (2.73)	4.77 (2.54)	: F(1, 54) = 14.3, < .001, = .21; Gum × order: F(1, 54) = .04, = .84, = .001
Spatial uncertainty^4	105.92 (4.83)	116.26 (5.34)	Gum: F(1, 54) = 3.28, = .08, = .06; Gum × order: F(1, 54) = .043, = .52, = .008
Place repetition^5	15.62 (2.56)	14 (2.92)	Gum: F(1, 54) = .35, = .56, = .006; Gum × order: F(1, 54) = .72, = .4, = .01
Simple reaction time	Block 1: = 327.98 (6.39); Block 2: = 336.58 (7.14); Block 3: = 339.29 (6.68)	Block 1: = 314.43 (7.32); Block 2: = 331.02 (7.44); Block 3: = 341.09 (8)	Gum: F(1, 54) = 2.04, = .16, = .04; : F(2, 108) = 16.09, < .001, = .23; Gum × time: F(2, 108) = 2.07, = .13, = .04; Gum × order^***: F(1, 54) = 22.08, = .001, = .29

Standard errors of the means are in parentheses. ¹Higher score = broader focus of attention. ²Higher score = slower encoding of information. ³Higher score = poorer organisation. ⁴Higher score = greater uncertainty. ⁵Higher score = greater effect of place repetition. ^**indicates < .01, indicates < .001, and ^***indicates = .001. Gum × gum order refers to interaction between gum condition and order in which gum condition appeared.