Can't revise? Chew some gum

This article was written by

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Taylor McConnolly

Chewing gum and memory performance

One of the weirdest and most left-field influences on our memory performance is the use of chewing gum. It's often said that we can remember information a lot more efficiently when chewing. Is this a real psychological phenomenon, or is it an urban myth?

On the one hand, this legend likely arose from clinical research. A famous example could perhaps be Wilkinson et al. (2002), which found improvement of working memory and of both immediate and delayed recall of words when the participant was chewing gum. It is typically argued however that this occurred as a result of increased attentiveness. Supposedly, the motor action of chewing the gum increased the attention of the individual, allowing them to process more information from the memory task. However, Wilkinson et al. actually found no change in attention level whatsoever between the gum and non-gum conditions, raising questions about the true cause of these improvements. Nonetheless, this idea has a scientific origin and is supported by psychological research.

On the other hand, some studies have found no difference in memory performance at all between gum chewing and control conditions. Tucha et al. (2004) found that alertness, flexibility and memory performance was all adversely affected by gum chewing. It suggests that, in fact, chewing gum does increase attention but only in motor action, as the individual's focus is on chewing the gum.

It seems that this phenomenon is dependent on individual differences and is actually not a reliable method of improving memory performance. Similar to all methods of revision, it's best to try it out and see if it works for you.