When is the best time to make a critical decision? According to a new study, it's when you are hungry.
A recent study published in PLOS One on Thursday, October 23, suggests that those who are hungry fare better in making decisions than the ones who have a full belly.
The four researchers-Denise de Ridder, Catharine Evers, Marieke Adriaanse, and Floor Kroese-of Utrecht Univerisity's Department of Clinical Health and Psychology in the Netherlands conducted three experiments to establish their findings.
Thirty college students participated in the experiments. In the first situation, the subjects played a card game composed of four decks. Each of these decks had its own money equivalent, with those labeled A and B having the highest values than C and D. However, these first two cards were random and contained the biggest penalties.
Before playing, students fasted for about 10 hours. Based on this first test, the researchers concluded than students who fasted and were therefore hungry made better choices when picking advantageous ones.
In the second experiment, the students still needed to play the same card game, but before they did, about 50 of the female participants had to eat any of the presented snacks and determine whether they picked based on price or craving. The ones who chose the latter proved to be hungrier while playing the game, yet still performed well by choosing the best cards for themselves.
During the third experiment, around 46 of the participants skipped eating anything over the last 10 hours then answered a questionnaire that involved choosing between monetary short- and long-term rewards. Based on the results, those who didn't eat preferred to go after the long-term financial reward, a decision that's considered by many as ideal.
In the end, the researchers believe that the reason for this better decision-making skill lies on the emotional state the hungry person is in. They are less impulsive and more than likely to base their decisions on gut or emotion. Thus, they are more inclined to recognize and see risks better than those wh are satiated.
