Sample Apa Research Paper Page 9

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Running on Empty
9
We predicted that the longer people had been deprived of food, the lower
they would score on the concentration task, and the less time they would
spend on the perseverance task. In this study, those deprived of food did
give up more quickly on the puzzle, but only in the 12-hour group. Thus,
the hypothesis was partially supported for the perseverance task. However,
concentration was found to be unaffected by food deprivation, and thus
the hypothesis was not supported for that task.
The findings of this study are consistent with those of Green et al.
The writers
(1995), where short-term food deprivation did not affect some aspects
speculate
of cognition, including attentional focus. Taken together, these findings
on possible
explanations
suggest that concentration is not significantly impaired by short-term
for the
food deprivation. The findings on perseverance, however, are not as easily
unexpected
explained. We surmise that the participants in the 12-hour group gave up
results.
more quickly on the perseverance task because of their hunger produced
by the food deprivation. But why, then, did those in the 24-hour group
fail to yield the same effect? We postulate that this result can be explained
by the concept of “learned industriousness,” wherein participants who
perform one difficult task do better on a subsequent task than the
participants who never took the initial task (Eisenberger & Leonard,
1980; Hickman, Stromme, & Lippman, 1998). Because participants
had successfully completed 24 hours of fasting already, their tendency
to persevere had already been increased, if only temporarily. Another
possible explanation is that the motivational state of a participant may be
a significant determinant of behavior under testing (Saugstad, 1967). This
idea may also explain the short perseverance times in the 12-hour group:
because these participants took the tests at 10 p.m., a prime time of the
night for conducting business and socializing on a college campus, they
may have been less motivated to take the time to work on the puzzle.
Research on food deprivation and cognition could continue in several
directions. First, other aspects of cognition may be affected by short-term
food deprivation, such as reading comprehension or motivation. With
respect to this latter topic, some students in this study reported decreased
motivation to complete the tasks because of a desire to eat immediately

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