Effect of Monday-Thursday Fasting on Working Memory of Adult Human

Abstract

Human being performs complex mental processes which include memory. In daily life memory is used in a dynamic system called working memory. Working memory is a system and process that holds and manipulates information temporarily in the brain. To perform memory task, human brain needs sufficient glucose pertaining to its energy demand. Fasting is a condition when there is no glucose intake to the body temporarily. Previous study shows that fasting gave positive effect on working memory of teenagers but gave no effect on college students. Present study aims to find out whether or not fasting influence memory performance of adult human. Visual working memory of each subject was tested using Delayed Matching To Sample (DMS) task. This test was done in fasting and non-fasting condition. Data were analyzed using Linear Model implemented in stat package of R program. Result shows that fasting did not affect memory performance both in reaction time and accomplished level. The absence of any effect is due to homeostasis system in the body. Learning effect and habituation are more considered to affect working memory performance.