Assignment 2: LASA 1: The Prospectus

Assignment 3: Research Paper Proposal

Carla Fonseca

Argosy University

Composition II | ENG102 A01

Module 1, Assignment 3

July 06, 2016

Instructor Carmel Phelan

WORKING THESIS;

Food deprivation at different levels affects perseverance with difficult task and concentration.

EXPLANATION;

Various things can distort the ability of people to concentrate on a task. Such things may include; hindrances, headaches, noisy surroundings, and even confusion. Actually, people have the ability to manage the environmental factors that hinder their concentration to some extent. However, internal factors such as an empty stomach, brings in the bone of contention. This makes us wonder; can people increase their capacity to concentrate by just eating on a regular basis?

This proposal analyzes the consequences of restricted free access to food in the short-term on two intellectual functions, that is, perseverance and concentration. The findings are subject to the supposed research on undergraduate students on both perseverance and concentration task after being restricted from eating. The students will be deprived food for 0, 12, and 24 hours. The expectation is, restriction to access food affect both perseverance time and concentration scores.

SUBPOINTS;

According to normal reasoning; the longer people are restricted from food, the lower they would perform on the concentration task, and the less time they would spend on the tasks in need of perseverance. (Crumpton, E., Wine, D. B., & Drenick, E. J., 1966). The Glucostatic theory forwarded by Mayer in 1950 ignited this research on how food consumption affects an average person. Around this time, several researchers had proposed that the brain controls consumption of food so as to maintain a given blood-glucose level. The concept was that people feel hungry when the level of glucose in their blood drops below a level and that they feel satisfied after eating. In other words, their blood-glucose levels have measured with a given level. The logistics in this theory makes sense given the fact that, the brain is empowered by glucose. (Green, M. W., Elliman, N. A., & Rogers, P. J., 1995).

Early research suggested that, irritability, sluggishness, reduced heart rate and depression, is a result of food deprivation in the long-term, probably around 36 hours and more. Fasting is a perfect form of restricting yourself from eating. According to investigations, when one fasts for several days he or she starts feeling irritated, weakness in muscles, apathy or depression. Since that time, research has concentrated mainly on how food affects intellectual ability. The effects of food deprivation on cognition have received comparatively less attention in recent years. (Green, Elliman, and Rogers, 1995).

The relatively insufficient research on restricted food consumption has created room for an advanced research. Just to point out, a lot of research has paid attention either on severe starvation at one side of the process or on skipping a single meal at the other side.

POSSIBLE OBJECTIONS;

Some of the findings have been contradicting. At some point, it was realized that missing breakfast deterscognition to some degree by interrupting aspects like problem-solving abilities. On the other hand, other research by M. W. Green, N.A. Elliman, and P. J. Rogers (1995-1997) has found that cognition is not significantly corrupted when one is deprived food ranging from a single meal to 24 hours. To add on, basing entirely on earlier research actually messes up real trends as there has not been significant study for all groups of people. In this regard, the bracket that has been studied is those between 9 and 11 years old, men and women in college, and males who are of middle age, and those with obesity. (M. W. Green, N.A. Elliman, P. J. Rogers 1995- 1997). Lastly, not all intellectual aspects have been researched.

In 1995 Green, Elliman, and Rogers researched sustained attention, simple reaction time, and immediate memory; in 1996 they researched attention bias; and in 1997 they researched simple reaction time, two-finger tapping, recognition memory, and free recall. In 1983, another study paid attention on duration of reaction and precision, problem solving and intelligence quotient (Pollitt et al.).

As per some studies, most of the results so far show that short-term food restriction does not significantly affect intellectual ability (Green et al., 1995, p. 246). However, this verdict appears quite insufficient due to the relative failure to research on some intellectual functions such as perseverance and concentration. Up to today, no study has tested perseverance, in spite of its significance in cognitive functioning. Actually, perseverance may be a better barometer than achievement tests in evaluating growth in learning and ability to think, as perseverance assists in solving complex problems (Costa, 1984). Furthermore, according to D’Agostino, perseverance is a better learning approach, and effort is cognitions worth studying. It is of great importance to test as many intellectual aspects as possible because the disposition of the task is essential when defining the relationship between food deprivation and intellectual performance (Smith & Kendrick, 1992).

Hence, the present study enables us to understand how depriving somebody food in the short-term affects perseverance and concentration on a hectic task. Specifically, individuals who are restricted from food for 24 hours are expected to be worse performers on a perseverance task and concentration test compared to those restricted for 12 hours, who subsequently are predicted to perform worse comparative to those who were not restricted from food.

REPLY TO OBJECTIONS;

The expectation of this research go hand in hand with that of Green et al. (1995), where restriction from food in the short-run does not affect some aspects of cognition, such as attention focus. Merged together, these results imply that short-term deprivation of food does not significantly corrupt concentration. However, there is no significant explanation on perseverance. We guesstimate that because of the hunger resulting from restriction from food the individuals in the 12-hour group give up more quickly on the perseverance based task. However, basing on the principle of learned industriousness, we postulate that individuals under the 24 hour cohort will not yield to the effect as those in the 12 hours group. The latter principle states that participants who perform one difficult task do better on a subsequent task than the participants who never took the initial task (Hickman, Stromme, & Lippman, 1998). Since participants in the supposed methodology will have successfully gone through 24 hours of fasting, their tendency to persevere will have already been raised up if only temporarily. Another viable explanation to this expectation is that this prolonged food-deprivation to the participants significantly tests their motivational state. This idea also explains the short-term perseverance in the 12-hour cohort. Since these participants are scheduled to tests at 10 p.m., the best time of the night for socializing and conducting business in a college campus, this might demotivate them to take time and work on a puzzle, an activity which demands intellectual input.

Study on food deprivation and cognition have room for continuing in several directions. First, other aspects of intellect may be affected by food-restriction in the short-run, such as compression, motivation or reading. As far as the latter topic is concerned, some students in this study will report a decreased motivation to finalize the tasks due to a desire to eat immediately once the test is completed. Furthermore, the time of day when the respective cohorts will take the tests may influence the results because, those in the 24-hour group will take the tests in the morning hence they will be fresh and more relaxed compared to those in the 12-hour group, who will be tested at night. As it may be, the level of motivation of food-deprived individuals could be tested effectively.

Also, we can explore long-term food deprivation, like those experienced by individuals who fast for religious reasons. There exists a probability that cognitive function varies over the duration of restriction. Studies could enquire how long somebody can remain concentrating, given that he or she lacks nutrition. Another thing to consider and perhaps most attracting is, research could venture into how food learned industriousness is affected by food deprivation. As previously stated, a possible explanation for the 24 hour cohort long-term perseverance could be that they spontaneously enhanced their perseverance ability by simply compelling themselves not to eat for 24 hours. Thus, research could study how acquiring perseverance is influenced by food deprivation.

Finally, the outcomes of this research bring forth some attracting insights into the cognitive and physiological effects of going without meals. A person may actually be in position to concentrate after foregoing meals in the long-run. However, if somebody is taking a long test or working long hours at a tedious task requiring perseverance, one may be deterred by not eating for a short time, as expected by the performance of the 12-hour group on the task in need of perseverance. Many people among them; working mothers, those fasting for either religious or personal reasons, students, and many more, are usually forced to undergo a short-term food deprivation. This research and others to follow will add on to the knowledge of the disadvantages, and probably advantages of foregoing or running short of meals. Different outcomes of this research imply that we have a lot more to learn from food-deprivation in the short-run.

References:

Crumpton, E., Wine, D. B., & Drenick, E. J. (1966). Starvation: Stress or Satisfaction? Journal

of the American Medical Association, 196, 394–396.

Green, M. W., Elliman, N. A., & Rogers, P. J. (1995). Lack of Effect of Short-Term Fasting on

Cognitive Function. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 29, 245–253.

Hickman, K. L., Stromme, C., & Lippman, L. G. (1998). Learned Industriousness: Replication

in Principle. Journal of General Psychology, 125, 213–217.