Gum Chewing

Which Can You Recall Better? The Effects of Concrete vs. Abstract words and Gum Chewing on Short-term Memory and Long-term Memory Many day to day tasks require us to use our memory. We either have to remember to set our alarm clocks at night or remember to turn off the stove before leaving the house. Unfortunately, some of us are even tasked with having to remember the important dates of historical events for a history exam. What about remembering something as simple as a list of words? Do we remember concrete words more than we do abstract words? If we were to add gum to the equation, would we remember either word types more, less, or equally the same? Even with the many used ways of improving our memory, such as using flash cards, songs, or repetition, it would not hurt to add on another method(s).There have been studies conducted to determine the effect that gum chewing has on word recall, both short-term and long-term. There have also been studies on concrete word vs. abstract words. The present study was adopted to examine the effects of word type and gum chewing on short-term and long-term memory.
Smith (2009) conducted a study on whether …show more content…
Participants were placed in two of the four conditions: concrete word list with gum, concrete word list without gum, abstract word list with gum, and abstract word list without gum. Data from immediate recall (short-term memory) and delayed recall (long-term memory) was gathered to determine the effects of word types and gum chewing.
Chewing gum increases blood flow to the brain, increasing brain activity (“Memory and Chewing Gum,” 2008). In the current research, it is predicted that there would be a significant difference in short-term recall scores between those who chewed gum and those who did not, with the gum chewers having a higher recall