Junk Food Observation Paper

Participants:
The participants used in this study were current undergraduate students at Saint Peter’s University. There were 4 females and 4 males used in this study. Participants came across this study on the Saint Peter’s University’s campus. Participants received extra credit in their classes for participation and were given a coupon to a variety of restaurants. All participants successfully completed the full survey.
Procedure:
The experiment will begin with questionnaires being given to the participants who agreed to join the experiment. The questionnaires will include questions such as, “Have you ever experienced a nightmare or bizarre dreams?”, “Have you ever experienced bizarre dreams or nightmares from eating junk foods?”, and “Have
Another group will go to sleep without having any junk food items before bed. After all of the junk food options have been selected, the junk food participants will eat the item as soon as they become tired or ready to go to sleep. The group that didn’t have any junk food will go to sleep at any time of their choosing. Throughout the night as participants sleep, the wrist-based heart rate monitors will keep track of the heart rate of the participants. The following day, participants will fill out another questionnaire. The questionnaire questions will include: “What food item did you consume before going to bed?”, “What time did you go to sleep?”, “Did a bizarre dream or nightmare occur?”, and “Do you believe the junk food item influenced your dreaming?”. After answering these questions, participants will receive extra class credit and a coupon to a restaurant of their choice for their participation in the study.
A questionnaire will be used to understand the relationship the participants may have with the effects of food on dreaming. The questionnaire will include three “yes or no” questions and three open-ended questions. The two questions will ask if the participants have ever experienced nightmares or bizarre dreams from eating foods and if the participants have ever experienced nightmares or bizarre dreams from eating foods late at night. After answering these questions, a series of three opened ended questions will ask the participants to name the foods that may have cause the nightmares or bizarre dreams, around what time was the food consumed, and if the dream qualified as bizarre or a nightmare. After the actual experiment, participants will be given a follow up question about if they experienced a nightmare or bizarre