Effect Of Monday-Thursday Fasting On Cognitive Function

Abstract

Human memory is a complex cognitive function. Based on its storage capacity, memory can be distinguished into two kinds. They are short-term and long-term memories. A kind of shortterm memory is called working memory. Working memory is a limited capacity system that holds items of information transiently in mind in the service of comprehension, thinking, and planning. To perform cognitive task, brain requires large energy. Fasting declines blood glucose concentration similar to skipping breakfast. Many people in Indonesia habitually perform fasting every Monday and Thursday irrespective of the month. The Monday-Thursday fasting therefore provides a model of how habitual fasting influences performances on working memory task. Present research used Delayed Matching to Sample paradigm is a widely used method to study visuospatial working memory in human and animal. Test was analyzed by linear mixed effect statistical model using statistical language S which is implemented in lme4 package of program R. Result shows that performance of visuospatial working memory task did not affected by Monday- Thursday fasting and its duration. It also did not affected by sleep length, and did not differ between male and female. It increased session by session which reflect the ability of subjects to learn the pictorial stimuli.