Download Memory gum! - MsFlarendswiki

By Wesley Mauk
Bellwood-Antis School District
Grade 9
Problem
Does chewing gum improve memory?
Reason for testing
The act of chewing gum stimulates your
brain cells.
Others believe the act of chewing gum
increases your heart rate and also
increases your blood flow.
 Sylvia Hubbard
 UK psychologists
 MSN Health
Hypothesis
Chewing gum does improve memory.
Procedure-Preparing room
1. Place 10 test subjects in a nondistracting room. Inform subjects that
they are not allowed to communicate.
2. Handout 1 sheet of paper with the 50
digit number sequence to each subject.
Hand out blank paper, pencils.
3. Make sure each subject is seated the
same and the temperature is 22° C.
Procedure-Preparing subjects
4. Handout 1 stick of gum to each subject.
5. Have each subject start to chew gum
and start timer.
6. Allow 5 minutes for each subject to
chew gum and memorize the number
sequence.
7. After 5 minutes, stop timer and flip over
the paper with the number sequence on
them so they are not visible.
Procedure-Testing subjects
8. Allow subjects 2 minutes (use timer) to
copy down as much of the number
sequence as they can from memory.
9. Collect all materials.
10. Repeat stops 3-10, only without the
subjects chewing gum and with a NEW
number sequence. This is my control
group!
Procedure-Testing the subjects
8. Allow subjects 2 minutes (use timer) to
copy down as much of the number
sequence as they can from memory.
9. Collect all materials.
10. Repeat stops 3-10, only without the
subjects chewing gum and with a new
number sequence. This is my control
group!
Procedure-Scoring the test
Go through each list and compare the
numbers written down to the numbers
actually on the list.
12. Write the total number of numbers
memorized on the top of the sheet.
11.
Experimental Design
Experimental Variable: Subjects chewing gum while
memorizing.
Experimental groups: Subjects chewing gum while
memorizing, subjects not chewing gum while
memorizing.
Control group: Subjects not chewing gum.
Control Variables
Gum
 Type of Gum
 Amount of gum (1
stick)
 Flavor of gum
People
Seating position
Time given to
memorize
Subjects are not
allowed to
communicate
Number sequence






Room
Lighting
Day
Time given to
memorize
Non-distracting test
room
Temperature
Time of day
# of numbers remembered
Sub. 1
Sub. 2
Sub. 3
Sub. 4
Sub. 5
Sub.6
Sub.7
Sub.8
Sub. 9
Sub. 10
28
32
13
7
8
23
10
4
23
17
8
21
14
7
7
12
10
8
12
14
KEY
Top row: With Gum
Bottom row: Without Gum
Number of numbers memorized
Results (Graph)
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
28 32 13 7 8 23 10 4 23 17
8 21 14 7 7 12 10 8 12 14
With
Without
Sub. 1
Sub. 6
Sub. 2
Sub. 7
Sub. 3
Sub. 8
Sub. 4
Sub. 9
Sub. 5
Sub. 10
Averages
Averages
Number of numbers memorized
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
With gum
Without gum
Conclusion
As you can see, chewing gum while
studying tends to increase memory in
70% of the people.
Further Study
More people
 Words
 Longer numbers
 pictures
