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Eating Breakfast for Success

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Eating Breakfast for Success
Running Heads: Breakfast and Learning

Impact of Breakfast on Learning in School

Ming Wen

University of Massachusetts Boston

Dr. Sheree Conrad

Psychology 101

Fall 2012

Abstract

In this experiment, we will study the impact of breakfast on learning in school. Students in several classes will be surveyed on their breakfast eating habits and their personal test scores. It will be a one-time survey over the course of one test. Factors that will be put under consideration are the amount of times each individual studied and the amount of sleep they had the night before. Many researches have been conducted proving that there are significant relationships between eating breakfast and educational performances. This study hypothesizes that students who ate breakfast will do significantly better on tests than students who didn’t eat breakfast.

Impact of Breakfast on Learning in School

Boschloo, Annemarie, et Al. (2012) conducted a survey with 608 adolescents age 11-18 investigating whether skipping breakfast has an impact on educational performances. The survey was to determine if those who eat breakfast daily have a better end-term-grade than those who skips breakfast. As a result, those who eat breakfast daily performed better in school than those who don’t eat breakfast. The result also shows that people who slept late tend to slip breakfast, but sleep had no effect on performances. The results applied to older and younger students also boys and girls. Another crossover trail has been done by Widenhorn-Müller, Katharina et al. (2008), the trail was applied on high school students age 13-20. Students were assigned to two groups: one with breakfast and who without breakfast. They compared cognitive functions of students in each group. As a result, Breakfast had no effect on paying more attention in class among students, but it has a short term effect on self-assessment and personal performance among


References: Boschloo, Annemarie, et Al. (2012). The relation between breakfast skipping and school performance in adolescents. Mind, Brain, and Education, Vol 6(2), Jun, 2012. pp. 81-88. Widenhorn-Müller, Katharina et al. (2008) Influence of having breakfast on cognitive performance and mood in 13- to 20-year-old high school students: Results of a crossover trial. Pediatrics, Vol 122(2), Aug, 2008. pp. 279-284. Pollitt, Ernesto et al. (1982-1983). Fasting and cognitive function. Journal of Psychiatric Research, Vol 17(2), 1982-1983. pp. 169-174. Pivik, R.T. et al. (2012). Eating breakfast enhances the efficiency of neural networks engaged during mental arithmetic in school-aged children. Physiology & Behavior, Vol 106(4), Jun 25, 2012. pp. 548-555.
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