The Effects of Breakfast on Neuropsychological Functioning

This study is designed to examine healthy children who skip breakfast and the effects of fasting on their neuropsychological functioning and the potential benefits that a Balanced Breakfast may have on their learning abilities. It is expected that this study will provide new knowledge on how prolonged periods of 8 or more hours without food affect neurocognitive processes and thus learning how specific meals following this period of fasting, which most children experience, change those processes, potentially for the better. The hypotheses for this study are: 1. Children who consume breakfast will demonstrate significantly higher levels of attention, greater concentration, and diminished impulsivity compared to children who do not consume breakfast. 2. Children who consume breakfast will demonstrate a significantly quicker reaction time and increased accuracy in correctly identifying target stimuli from an array compared to children who do not consume breakfast. 3. Children who consume breakfast will demonstrate increased freedom from distractibility and enhanced short-term memory compared to children who do not consume breakfast. 4. Children who consume breakfast will demonstrate increased cognitive processing speed compared to children who do not consume breakfast. 5. Children who consume breakfast will have improved verbal learning compared to children who do not consume breakfast. 6. Children who consume breakfast will have improved visual memory compared to children who do not consume breakfast.