the InMind blog

Can expectations about being hungry affect your concentration?

• written by Christoph Bamberg

Editorial Assistants: Elisabeth Höhne and Maren Giersiepen.

Note: An earlier version of this article has been published in the German version of In-Mind.

Can skipping breakfast blur your focus? A recent study found that hunger alone did not alter concentration—but participants expecting hunger to sharpen their minds performed better than those anticipating a slump. The results suggest beliefs about hunger can steer cognitive performance and should inform health messaging.

Fig 1. Expectations of hunger and satiety

Have you ever heard that skipping breakfast can cause concentration problems? Or that a slight feeling of hunger sharpens attention? Whether it’s health trends like intermittent fasting or catchy advertisement slogans like “You’re not you when you’re hungry,” our beliefs about eating play a big role in how we get through everyday life. But here’s something surprising: it may not be your actual feeling of hunger, but what you believe about hunger that influences your cognitive performance.

A recent study examined precisely this link between hunger, expectations, and cognitive performance [1]. The result: hunger itself did not directly affect participants’ cognitive performance—but their beliefs about hunger did. Performance was measured with a standardized test in which relevant and irrelevant information had to be sorted quickly, a task that demands attention and inhibitory control. Hunger differences were induced by having participants either skip breakfast and lunch—participating in the study hungry—or eat as usual and participate satiated. Hungry participants who had read that hunger boosts concentration performed better than those who expected hunger to impair them. Satiated participants also achieved higher scores when they believed that feeling full supports focus. These effects appeared in objective behavior, not just in subjective impressions. Whether the same patterns hold in everyday work or school settings remains uncertain.

Why does this matter? The findings fit with placebo research, where expectations drive outcomes. They also build on studies showing that verbal labels—calling a milkshake “indulgent” or “healthy,” for instance—can change hormonal responses and feelings of hunger [2]. In short: our mindset can strongly influence how body and mind react.

This study underscores the need for carefully worded advertising and public-health messages. Telling people they can’t concentrate without breakfast might actually harm their performance, especially if they naturally tend to skip breakfast.

For campaign designers—and for all of us—it’s a reminder that while food certainly fuels the brain, our beliefs about eating play a major role too.

Bibliography

[1] C. Bambergand A.Roefs,“The impact of dietary claims on behaviour: Expectations qualify how actual satiety affects cognitive performance,”Appetite, 2024, Art. no. 107823.doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107823.

[2] A. J. Crum, W. R. Corbin, K. D. Brownell, and P.Salovey, “Mind over milkshakes: Mindsets, not just nutrients, determine ghrelin response,”Health Psychology, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 424–429, 2011.doi: 10.1037/a0023467.

Picture Source

Fig 1: https://unsplash.com/de/fotos/person-die-burger-in-der-hand-halt-oDBmduF...