Lull in concentration? Chew gum: study

A new British study finds that chewing gum can improve your concentration.

Previous research has already found that gum chewing can boost concentration in visual memory tasks. But in a new study, Cardiff University researchers have found that it also enhances concentration in audio memory tasks.

Published online in the British Journal of Psychology on Friday, the study examined 38 participants who were split into two groups. Both groups completed a 30-minute audio task that involved listening to a list of numbers from one to nine that were read aloud in random order.

Participants were scored on how accurately and quickly they were able to detect a sequence of odd-even-odd numbers, such as 7-2-1. The results showed that subjects who chewed gum had quicker reaction times and more accurate results than the participants who didn't chew gum.

However, another Cardiff University study last year found that chewing gum can impair short-term memory, which challenged previous studies that have concluded otherwise. But the researchers issued a caveat with their results, saying that flavored gum could possibly cancel out the negative impact on memory loss.