<p>It's better to be starving than well-fed when you are trying to make a life-changing decision, according to a new study which found that hunger can improve decision making.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands conducted three experiments on a group of students to test whether hunger led to advantageous strategic decision-making.<br /><br />In all experiments, the students were split up into two groups - fasting and non-fasting.<br /><br />The fasting participants ate nothing for approximately 10 hours before taking a test, while the non-fasting group was treated to a generous breakfast, where they were free to eat and drink as much as they wanted.<br /><br />In the first two experiments, the students played a card game that mirrors complex real-life decision-making related to gambling that involves various risks and rewards.<br /><br />The fasting group performed better than the non-fasting group, managing to understand the pattern of long-term rewards over short-term gains, 'sciencealert.com.au' reported.<br /><br />"These results show that people who were hungry because of having fasted overnight performed better on a complex decision task than sated people and thus provides a first piece of evidence that the hot state of hunger improves, rather than compromises, advantageous decision making," researchers said.<br /><br />In the third experiment, the participants were presented with a set of questions that required them to choose between being given a small amount of money at that moment or a larger amount of money in the future.<br /><br />This experiment supported the findings of the first two experiments, as the fasting participants opted for the larger amount of money in the future, whereas non-fasting participants were more likely to choose the first option. The study was published in the journal PLOS One.</p>
<p>It's better to be starving than well-fed when you are trying to make a life-changing decision, according to a new study which found that hunger can improve decision making.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands conducted three experiments on a group of students to test whether hunger led to advantageous strategic decision-making.<br /><br />In all experiments, the students were split up into two groups - fasting and non-fasting.<br /><br />The fasting participants ate nothing for approximately 10 hours before taking a test, while the non-fasting group was treated to a generous breakfast, where they were free to eat and drink as much as they wanted.<br /><br />In the first two experiments, the students played a card game that mirrors complex real-life decision-making related to gambling that involves various risks and rewards.<br /><br />The fasting group performed better than the non-fasting group, managing to understand the pattern of long-term rewards over short-term gains, 'sciencealert.com.au' reported.<br /><br />"These results show that people who were hungry because of having fasted overnight performed better on a complex decision task than sated people and thus provides a first piece of evidence that the hot state of hunger improves, rather than compromises, advantageous decision making," researchers said.<br /><br />In the third experiment, the participants were presented with a set of questions that required them to choose between being given a small amount of money at that moment or a larger amount of money in the future.<br /><br />This experiment supported the findings of the first two experiments, as the fasting participants opted for the larger amount of money in the future, whereas non-fasting participants were more likely to choose the first option. The study was published in the journal PLOS One.</p>