Physiological Effects of Sugar-Free Mint Chewing Gum on Typing Performance

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Date
2019Author
Boguslawski, Maya
Christenson, Rachel
Davis, Jacob
Garrison, Benjamin
Pham, Kai
Publisher
Journal of Advanced Student Sciences (JASS)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Chewing sugar-free mint gum has been shown in a large body of research to have a
stimulating effect on humans, manifesting as improved performance in completing tasks with
cognitive demands. Leveraging prior research, we hypothesized that participants chewing gum
during a read-and-copy typing test will perform better than those who do not and will express
different physiological measurements. Participants (n=50) were evenly and randomly divided
into the experimental group that would be given the sugar-free mint gum and the control that
would not. All participants were given a questionnaire that assessed their self-perceived typing
proficiency and gum chewing habits. Before and after the typing test, we collected measurements
of heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), and blood pressure (BP). We used ANOVA to analyze
our data and found no statistically significant relationship between chewing sugar-free mint gum
and performance on a read-and-copy typing test (p=0.674). We conclude that chewing sugar-free
mint gum does not have any effect on typing performance, HR, RR, or BP. Though our
hypothesis proved faulty, we believe that further inquiry and revision of our design might
produce significant results.
Subject
Chewing gum
typing speed
typing proficiency
Blood Pressure
Heart Rate
respiratory rate
habits
focus
concentration
task completion
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/82004Type
Article
Description
An article that appeared in JASS, issue 2019