Do you find it difficult to resist the temptation of that extra slice of cake, that next glass of wine, or that cigarette when you\u2019re trying to quit smoking? If so, a taste of sugar may be all you need to stay strong.<\/p>\n
A recent Â鶹ֱ²¥ study examining the science behind temptation shows that simply tasting glucose may boost willpower.<\/p>\n
According to lead researcher Professor Martin Hagger from Curtin\u2019s School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, \u2018giving in\u2019 requires considerable self-control or willpower, which drains the brain of energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cScientists believe that self-control is a limited resource, a bit like a muscle,\u201d Professor Hagger explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cA muscle needs strength to lift heavy weights but becomes fatigued after a period of time. Similarly, overcoming temptation requires willpower, which is thought to drain the brain of glucose, the fuel that powers the brain.\u201d<\/p>\n
This reduction in self-control ‘strength’ has already been demonstrated in many laboratory experiments: when subjects completed a task that drained their self-control strength, they performed significantly worse on a second self-control task. However, drinking a glucose drink boosted willpower and led participants to perform better on the task.<\/p>\n
The Curtin study has taken this research to a new level, demonstrating that merely \u2018tasting\u2019, but not swallowing, glucose has the same effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found that simply rinsing the mouth for 10 seconds with a glucose solution had the same positive effect on self-control as swallowing the glucose solution,\u201d Professor Hagger said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese results suggest that it is the perception of glucose – rather than its metabolism in the body – that boosts people\u2019s willpower when fighting temptations.<\/p>\n
\u201dOnly the glucose solution boosted willpower; an artificially-sweetened solution had no effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
The researchers believe that there are receptor cells in the mouth sensitive only to sugar that send signals to the brain. These signals activate areas of the brain associated with motivation and the need for control, two processes that are very important for self-control.<\/p>\n
They further believe that tasting glucose, perhaps by rinsing the mouth with a sugary drink, sucking a sugary sweet, or chewing sugar-infused gum, may boost willpower. The research was recently published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin at the following link: http:\/\/psp.sagepub.com\/content\/early\/2012\/09\/19\/0146167212459912.abstract<\/a><\/p>\n Contact: Hillary Lambert, Public Relations, Â鶹ֱ²¥ Do you find it difficult to resist the temptation of that extra slice of cake, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-17987","media-release","type-media-release","status-publish","hentry","category-campus-and-global-community","category-research"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":false,"credits":{"author":null,"photographer":null,"media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":false,"author_meta":{"first_name":"Hillary","last_name":"Lambert","display_name":"Hillary Lambert"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/17987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/media-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/17987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17987"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=17987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Professor Martin Hagger PhD. School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Health Sciences Â鶹ֱ²¥ Tel: 08 92662215\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Email: Martin.Hagger@curtin.edu.au<\/a><\/p>\n
\nTel: 08 9266 9085, Email: hillary.lambert@curtin.edu.au<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Web: http:\/\/curtin.edu.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"