Defeyter, Margaret A and Russo, Riccardo (2013) The effect of breakfast cereal consumption on adolescents' cognitive performance and mood. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7 (NOV). 789-. DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00789
Defeyter, Margaret A and Russo, Riccardo (2013) The effect of breakfast cereal consumption on adolescents' cognitive performance and mood. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7 (NOV). 789-. DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00789
Defeyter, Margaret A and Russo, Riccardo (2013) The effect of breakfast cereal consumption on adolescents' cognitive performance and mood. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7 (NOV). 789-. DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00789
Abstract
The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of breakfast consumption on cognitive performance and mood in adolescents, and any interaction that breakfast consumption might have with cognitive load. The rationale for this approach was that the beneficial effects of any intervention with regard to cognitive function may be more readily apparent when more demands are placed on the system. Furthermore, as skipping breakfast is particularly prevalent within this age group, thus, we focused on adolescents who habitually skip breakfast. Cognitive load was modulated by varying the level of difficulty of a series of cognitive tasks tapping memory, attention, and executive functions. Mood measured with Bond-Lader scales (1974) as well as measures of thirst, hunger, and satiety were recorded at each test session both at baseline and after the completion of each test battery. Forty adolescents (mean age = 14:2) participated in this within-subjects design study. According to treatment, all participants were tested before and after the intake of a low Glycaemic index breakfast (i.e., a 35 g portion of AllBran and 125 ml semi-skimmed milk) and before and after no breakfast consumption. Assessment time had two levels: 8.00 am (baseline) and 10.45 am. The orders of cognitive load tasks were counterbalanced. Overall it appeared that following breakfast participants felt more alert, satiated, and content. Following breakfast consumption, there was evidence for improved cognitive performance across the school morning compared to breakfast omission in some tasks (e.g., Hard Word Recall, Serial 3's and Serial 7's). However, whilst participants performance on the hard version of each cognitive task was significantly poorer compared to the corresponding easy version, there was limited evidence to support the hypothesis that the effect of breakfast was greater in the more demanding versions of the tasks. © 2013 Defeyter and Russo.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | adolescent; cognitive performance; breakfast; mood; cognitive load |
Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry |
Divisions: | Faculty of Science and Health Faculty of Science and Health > Psychology, Department of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 14 May 2014 15:21 |
Last Modified: | 07 Aug 2024 19:53 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/9341 |
Available files
Filename: fnhum-07-00789.pdf
Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0