The cortical effect of chewing gum during hand movements: A functional MRI study

Nine right-handed normal subjects were recruited for this study. We compared the cortical activation during execution of hand movements (right finger flexion-extension) with that during execution of hand movements while chewing gum (right side chewing). We found that execution of hand movements while chewing gum induced less activation in the contralateral SM1 than hand movements alone. Based on our findings, it appears chewing gum during execution of hand movements enhanced the efficiency of hand movements.