Effect of betel chewing on performance reaction time.

To test the validity of claims by users that betel chewing heightens alertness and improves motor responses, the effect of betel chewing on simple and choice reaction times (SRT and CRT) was investigated in habitual users. Control consisted of chewing gum and practice groups. Both SRT and CRT were correlated with age. In the SRT task, reaction times were not different among the three groups studied. In the CRT task, only betel and chewing gum groups showed a significant shortening of reaction time, but the betel group had a higher degree of statistical significance in this effect. It is concluded that shortening of CRT from betel chewing is probably partly due to chewing itself and partly due to a cholinergic arousal mechanism.