To fidget or not to fidget: the effect of movement on cognition
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Nova Southeastern University
Abstract
Previous research suggests that there is controversy regarding the effects of fidgeting. On
one hand, fidgeting has been associated with inattention. On the other hand, the act of
suppressing movement may have extensive costs to cognitive abilities. Thus, allowing
fidgeting might be beneficial for attention. However certain fidgeting behaviors, such as
large body movements, might be disruptive in certain situations, like a classroom or an
office meeting. Fidget toys have been developed that allow for smaller fidgeting
movements that are non-disruptive. Most previous studies have been conducted in an
elementary school classroom and have used primarily observational data. Here we
examine the effects of suppression or activation of fidgeting on one’s executive
functioning in a college population. To suppress fidgeting, participants were told to sit
completely still during testing; to activate fidgeting, participants played with a hand held
fidget toy during testing; and in a neutral condition, participants were not told to suppress
or activate fidgeting. We measured attentional, working memory, and response inhibition
performance in easy and hard versions in of two cognitive tasks: the Stroop task, and a
visual search task.
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Citation
Grodner, K. (2015). To fidget or not to fidget: The effect of movement on cognition. Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Disserations (AAT 1599141)