Study: We can’t think and chew gum at the same time

Having trouble remembering phone numbers? Try spitting out your chewing gum.

A new British study suggests that chewing flavorless gum can interfere with short-term memory.

The research, published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, challenges the prevailing notion that chewing gum — at least when it’s flavored — is a performance enhancer that can boost brain power. It also provides further proof that human beings are woefully inept at completing two tasks at once.

Some argue that gum improves concentration by triggering an increase in blood flow through the brain, said lead author Michail Kozlov of Cardiff University. But his team found that an oral activity such as gum chewing can interfere with the process that’s normally used to remember verbal content.

It didn’t matter whether study volunteers chewed vigorously or naturally. In both cases, “chewing has an overall adverse affect on serial recall,” researchers wrote.