Confectionary gum's ability to improve attentional performance within a population with symptoms of ADHD

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: The present study was designed to determine if chewing confectionary gum improves attentional functioning in both a normal population and population with ADHD symptoms. As well, the study has determined if chewing confectionary gum has differential affects on attentional functioning across the two groups. Standard neuropsychological measures designed to assess different areas of attentional functioning were used to measure attentional performance.

Findings and Conclusions:

Support for the hypotheses of the current study is mixed. Findings indicate that confectionary gum did not improve performance on the majority of the dependent measures of attentional functioning. Specifically, performance on the Trial Making Test, Digit Span, and most CPT-II subscales were not improved when chewing confectionary gum. However, findings show that confectionary gum had a positive impact on Hit rate, Hit rate Standard Error, Hit reaction time ISI change, and Hit Standard Error ISI change.