Every year, during the month of Ramadan, people of Muslim faith fast by not eating or drinking between sunrise and sunset. This is likely to have physiological and psychological consequences for the individuals who fast, as well as societal and economic impacts on the wider population. Here, we investigate whether this type of fasting influences fasters’ cognition through a scarcity mindset. In Study 1, we find that during Ramadan but not after, preceding questions about food undermine fasting subjects’ accuracy and reaction times on a subsequent cognitive control task. Study 2 shows that food-related probes impair cognitive control in the fasters who had a meal within the past eight hours. Beyond eight hours, control and food-reminded subjects both perform poorly. Implications for research on cognition under scarcity are discussed.

Forty-seven participants attended an experiment to rate two infants according to their perceived behavior. Half of participants rated in a setting where one infant identified with prematurely born (PL) and the other with full-term birth (FTL). The rest rated with the same configuration, except those labels were swapped for the infants. Results showed not significant difference between PL and FTL for perceived strength, alertness, and physical size. But participants rated FTL infants more positively for motor coordination. Moreover, statistical interaction between two infants when they are presented simultaneously was found and further studies seem necessary to investigate interactions more. A new experimental design to study attitudes via ultimatum game is proposed. In general, previous findings of prematurity stereotyping is replicated partially, but it does not count as an evidence for the rejection of the prematurity stereotyping hypotheses.