Surveys And Experiments In Social Sciences

Background

Snacking while working is an increasingly common phenomenon amongst those that lead desk-bound lifestyles, namely students and white-collar workers. The proliferation of this work habit is actually a basic form of ‘multitasking’. The prevalence of multitasking in society today has transformed the way people take on daily tasks and is widely considered as a valued skill set for productivity. However, contrary to popular understanding that multitasking is valuable, scientific evidence suggests a different story, sparking debates regarding its true effectiveness. In this light, the team is interested to investigate the cognitive implications of managing a menial secondary task (snacking) concurrently with a primary task (studying). Specifically, this study aims to explore if snacking will, if at all, affect undergraduate students’ comprehension of a given text while snacking. Comment by Andrew Yee Zi Han: Are you suggesting multitasking is undesirable? Also, don’t patronize your reader: “although seemingly harmless to productivity”. Write factually. Comment by Student - Tan Wei Jin: Removed patronizing part Comment by Andrew Yee Zi Han: good Comment by Ee Yan Eion Goh: Thanks

Literature Review

Snacking

Snacks can broadly be defined into two main categories - food and beverages (Julie M Hess, 2016). In this field of study, we define the term ‘snacking’ as consumption of food outside meals. Some examples include biscuits, potato chips, chocolates and sweets. In a study conducted by Howard Egeth, it was found that snacks like chocolate and hotdogs were a form of distraction for people that engaged in a complicated task. High-fat and high-calorie snacks in particular were found to be twice as distracting. (Egeth, 2017) Comment by Andrew Yee Zi Han: “some examples include” Comment by Student - Edmund Chiang Jia Wei: Done Comment by Andrew Yee Zi Han: Is this study by Rosen (2017) or Egeth (Date Unknown)?If it is the latter, just write it as “In one study, Egeth (date) found that…” Don’t include his position and honorifics.

A separate study investigated how time plays a part in determining when snacking is likely to occur. This study found that snacking at different hours of the day affects cognitive performance. The findings concluded that mid-day snacking improves cognitive performance, namely spatial memory and attention. It was found that although cognitive performance is impaired after lunch, the ingestion of sugar from mid-day snacks counteracts these effects. It was also proven that high carbohydrate snacks improved attention and performance. In summary, taking a mid-day snack increases the intake of sugar which leads to an increase in cognitive performance. (Caroline R. Mahoney, 2007). Comment by Andrew Yee Zi Han: Grammar – writing is very unclear Comment by Student - Edmund Chiang Jia Wei: Done

The notion that our eating behavior is guided by external cues is well documented. Externality theory postulates that the presence of external stimuli can either increase or decrease a person’s internal cues to hunger (Schachter S, 1968). This means that some individuals might increase the amount and the frequency of eating when under stress, regardless of internal state of hunger. Another study proved this by showing that stress increases the consumption of snacks (Mark Conner, 2007). Additionally, another research study showed that a huge majority of people are more inclined to snack when studying. This snacking while studying essentially leads to multitasking in students (Julie M Hess, 2016). Comment by Andrew Yee Zi Han: Citations all over the place.Also, how is external eating related to anything discussed above? Comment by Student - Tan Wei Jin: made it related Comment by Ee Yan Eion Goh: citation? Comment by Ee Yan Eion Goh:

Multitasking

When multitasking, tasks can either be performed (1) concurrently or (2) sequentially (Yoori Hwang, 2018). Concurrent Multitasking (also known as dual-tasking) occurs when two tasks are executed in parallel, for example holding a conversation while driving. On the other hand, Sequential Multitasking (also known as task switching) occurs when a person must shift their attention between two independent tasks because the tasks are too cognitively demanding to perform them concurrently, such as alternating between completing a Mathematical assignment and writing an English essay.

Recently, a meta-analysis suggested that multitasking might have adverse effects on cognition, leading to a less than optimal performance of the task (Yoori Hwang, 2018). This is mainly due to cognitive overload, which means that the cognitive resources demanded by the tasks is greater than the mental capacity of the multitasker. By extension, this can be better explained by the limited capacity model of information processing (Baddeley, 1969) which assumes that cognitive resources possessed by humans are finite and limited. As such, taking on concurrent tasks results in the two (or multiple) tasks competing for finite cognitive resources. People might then experience cognitive overload, resulting in poorer performance of the undertaken tasks. Comment by Andrew Yee Zi Han: Good, but cite properly Comment by Latasha Lenus: Deleted the x3 cites

The same study by Yoori Hwang showed that not all tasks require the same level of multitasking (Yoori Hwang, 2018). Cognitive ability further deteriorates depending on which sensory channel is being used for each task. The cognitive overload will be much greater if both tasks utilize the same sense, such as watching television and reading a book (visual-visual), as compared to reading a book and listening to music (visual-audio). Comment by Andrew Yee Zi Han: Which same study? Cite please Comment by Student - Tan Wei Jin: Cited study

Cognitive Abilities

Cognitive abilities can be defined as a general capability which encompasses reasoning, problem solving, planning, abstract thinking, complex idea comprehension, and learning from experience (Dan Ispas, 2015). Cognitive abilities are key competences required and executed daily to meet the challenges of job demands, education, advanced training and societal expectations (Allemand, 2015). In tandem to this research study, cognitive ability is narrowed down to academic factors. In one study, Nathan Brody defines cognitive ability as “a latent trait ability that is assessed by psychometric tests” (Brody, 2004). These psychometric tests are often categorized into mathematical questions, reading comprehension questions or logical diagrammatic questions.

A study showed that many cognitive skills are required for reading comprehension. These cognitive skills include vocabulary & semantic processing, visualisation, working memory, reasoning and inference (Moore, 2014). The National Reading Panel also found that cognitive strategies such as predicting, monitoring and clarifying help improve reading comprehension (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Research Gap

There have been many studies done regarding the snacking and eating habits of people of different age groups and backgrounds (Timothy L.Barnes, 2015). However, a large majority of the studies and surveys were conducted in western countries such as America (Dantong Wang, 2016) and France (Arnaud Basdevant, 1993), most of which were concerned with the health implications snacking has on individuals. While there is existing research related to our study, the snacking habits of western countries cannot be directly transposed to the context of Asian societies due to differing diets, lifestyles and attitudes. Furthermore, most papers regarding snacking explore the diets and health of individuals, while the other effects of snacking on individuals (e.g. concentration levels) have not been explored extensively.

Multitasking and its effects on task performance is a widely researched area. However, a substantial amount of papers focused on the multitasking between activities involving visual-visual and visual-audio stimuli, particularly exploring the effects of media multitasking (e.g. listening to music while reading a book) on an individual’s performance (Shan Xu, 2015). There exists a gap in the current pool of research regarding multitasking of tasks that are not auditory or visual in nature. For example, eating and listening to music, which involve oral and auditory stimuli.

From the literature review, snacking and reading can manifest as either sequential or concurrent multitasking depending on an individual’s ability to multitask, which has the potential to affect cognitive ability. Hence this paper aims to explore these gaps, specifically if snacking will, if at all, affect undergraduate students’ comprehension of a given text while snacking.

Hypothesis

Based on the research studies above, multitasking is essentially the act of juggling between two tasks at the same time, causing a cognitive overload, resulting in lower cognitive ability.

One of the most common multitasking done by students is snacking and studying. Since they are two different tasks, it naturally follows that undergraduate students who snack while studying would have an adverse effect on cognitive ability, resulting in a lower quality of work. However, another study showed that mid-day snacking improves cognitive performance (Caroline R. Mahoney, 2007) which directly contradicts the above theory.

Hence, the aim of this study would be to assess whether snacking directly affects an undergraduate student’s ability to do work involving cognitive ability, which can be measured through reading comprehension tests.

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The hypothesis is thus: “Undergraduate students who snack while reading will have a lower ability to comprehend a text as compared to those who do not snack while reading.” Comment by Andrew Yee Zi Han: Okay Comment by Student - Suryono Gunawan Ali:

Proposed Method

Participants

Undergraduates from Singapore University of Technology and Design will be recruited through convenience sampling and snowball sampling. Convenience sampling will be conducted by recruiting nearby college friends. Snowball sampling from the current pool of participants will be conducted if the sample size has not been achieved. These non-probability sampling methods are implemented as they are cost and time effective. They are more practical to implement in comparison to probability sampling.

The participants will be informed that their involvement in the experiment would solely be to complete an assigned test material.

Procedure

A total of 50 participants will be randomized into two groups of 25 each, a control group and a test group. The test will be conducted over the span of a few days from 1400 to 1600 hours. This timing falls between common lunch and dinner timings, which ensures that participants from the test group will be able to consume snacks during the experiment. All participants will be informed to select a 25 minutes slot to participate in this experiment. Comment by Andrew Yee Zi Han: Why this timing? Comment by Student - Suryono Gunawan Ali: Added justification

Control Group

Each participant will be instructed through email or text to report at the experiment venue 5 minutes prior to their selected slot. The participant will be reminded that their task in the experiment is to complete the test material within 25 minutes. As such, all participants will not be aware of the true objective of the experiment.

Test Group

Similar to the control group, each participant will be instructed through email or text to report at the experiment venue 5 minutes prior to their selected slot. The participant will be reminded that their task in the experiment is to complete the test material within 25 minutes.

However, a plastic container containing Oreos will be introduced into the test environment. Participants in the test group will be instructed to consume any number of Oreos during and up till the completion of the assigned test material.

At the start and end of every experiment in the test group, the number of Oreos in the plastic container will be counted. This is to verify that the participant has actually consumed the Oreos.

Post Experiment

At the end of every experiment, participants will be instructed to keep the test content confidential to uphold the integrity of the test and experiment.

After all participants have completed the experiments, an email will be sent to reveal the true objective of the experiment: To assess whether snacking directly affects an undergraduate student’s cognitive ability while studying.

The respective groups’ results will be tabulated. The mean, median and standard deviation of the test scores between the 2 groups will be recorded and compared. A higher collective score for the test group will be evidence to falsify our hypothesis.

Selection of Snack

The snack selected for the experiment is Oreo, a chocolate biscuit with a white cream filling. Oreo is selected because high-fat and high-calorie snacks in particular are shown to be twice as much distracting as other snacks of a lower fat and calorie content (Egeth, 2017). Furthermore, Oreos are consistent in shape and size, which will make calculating the number of Oreos consumed easier, as compared to snacks of less uniform shapes like potato chips.

Test Material

The test material that will be given to the participants is sourced from Khan Academy Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) preparation site. The SAT is an accredited form of measurement that is used by colleges and universities throughout the United States. It serves as a psychometric test that measures a participant’s reading comprehension skills, which would also serve to measure their cognitive ability (Brody, 2004). Comment by Andrew Yee Zi Han: Really? Comment by Andrew Yee Zi Han: Cognitive ability is not comprehension skill

An actual full reading test from the site is 65 minutes long and is infeasible for our test procedure. Instead, two passages and their comprehension questions based on the passages will be extracted from a practice paper. For this test procedure, the last 2 passages from the Reading Section of the SAT Practice Paper #9 were extracted[footnoteRef:2]. This will take approximately 25 minutes to complete. [2: Refer to Appendix A for test material]

The practice paper will give a final quantitative score of the participant’s performance. This ensures a fair, consistent test for all participants, and simplifies the process of comparing the results between control and test groups.

Links and References

1. Allemand, M. (2015). Midlife Psychological Development. In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition) (pp. 369-375). Switzerland.
2. Arnaud Basdevant, C. C.-G. (1993). Appetite Volume 21: Snacking Patterns in Obese French Women. Paris: -.
3. Baddeley, A. D. (1969). Short-term memory and the limited capacity hypothesis. British Journal of Psychology, 51-55.
4. Brian Wansink, C. R. (2010). Appetite Volume 54: “Is this a meal or snack?” Situational cues that drive perceptions. United States: -.
5. Brody, N. (2004). What Cognitive Intelligence Is and What Emotional Intelligence Is Not. Psychological Inquiry, 234-238.
6. Caroline R. Mahoney, H. A. (2007). Effect of an afternoon confectionery snack on cognitive processes critical to learning. Physiology & Behavior, 344-352.
7. Christopher D. Wickens, R. S. (2015). Discrete task switching in overload: A meta-analyses and a model. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 79-84.
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10. Dantong Wang, K. d. (2016). Snacking Among US Children: Patterns Differ by Time of Day. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior Volume 48, 369-375.
11. Egeth, H. (2017, Oct 26). hub.jdu.edu. From John Hopkins University: https://hub.jhu.edu/2017/10/26/junk-food-twice-as-distracting/
12. Jianzhong Xu, X. F. (2015). Homework Distraction Scale: Confirming the Factor Structure With Middle School Students. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 496-500.
13. Julie M Hess, S. S. (2016). What Is a Snack, Why Do We Snack, and How Can We Choose Better Snacks? A Review of the Definitions of Snacking, Motivations to Snack, Contributions to Dietary Intake, and Recommendations for Improvement . Advances in Nutrition, Volume 7, Issue 3, 466-475.
14. Kahneman, D. (1973). Attention and Effort. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
15. Kathryn Silliman, K. R.-F. (2004). K. Silliman et al. /Californian Journal of Health Promotion 2004, Volume 2, Issue 2,10-19 A Survey of Dietary and Exercise Habits and Perceived Barriers to Following a Healthy Lifestyle in a College Population . Californian Journal of Health Promotion, 10-19.
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17. Liu, P.-J. Y. (2015). Aging and Decision Making.
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19. Moore, A. L. (2014). A Research Review of Cognitive Skills, Strategies, and Interventions for Reading Comprehension.
20. National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
21. Schachter S, G. R. (1968). Effects of fear, deprivation and obesity on eating. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91-97.
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24. Yoori Hwang, S.-H. J. (2018). Multitasking and task performance: Roles of task hierarchy, sensory. Computers in Human Behaviour, 161-167.