CiCC - Cogntion - Cogntion and Appetite
CiCC - Cognition - Cognition and Appetite
Psychobiological view of appetite
Eating is a consequence of physiological processes monitoring nutrient status. (doesn’t explain overeating however)
Food related thoughts play a big role
Cognitive processes In eating
Memory
Attention
Perception
Learning
Decision Making
All effect when, what and how much to eat
Cognitive theories of susceptibility to overeat
Externality Theory
Weight gain is dependant on the extent to which internal and external signals motivate people to eat
Restraint Theory
Individuals use cognitive process to restrict their intake due to weight concerns.
Emotional Eating
Occurs in response to negative emotions as an attempt to distract.
Attention
Measuring: Food Dot-Probe Task
One food related stimuli, one neutral stimuli
Dot flashed in respective space and reaction time measured
Measuring: Food Stroop Test
Neutral and food related words coloured, participants have to report the colour of each word
Attention in Obesity
Attention 🡪 Heightened emotional response 🡪 Stronger tendencies 🡪 overeating and obesity
Food Attentional Biases – Meta analysis
~30 Studies on obesity reliably confirmed no evidence of greater attention on obesity.
Biases are reliably associated with:
Hunger state
Food intake
Food craving
Eating disorders
Attentional capacity is limited:
Inattention while eating
Eating while distracted (e.g TV) leads to greater intake and poorer memory of what you ate
Obese children spend more time watching TV
Inattention and hunger
Reducing Eating by Modifying Attention
Mindfulness:
Attending to food can lead to better control of intake
Training awareness of appetite sensations 🡪 better control of intake
Learning influences food liking
Born with an innate liking for sweet and disliking of bitter. Other preferences are learnt. Evidence for prenatal flavour learning (Mennella et al 1995).
Expectations influence food liking
Assimilation Theory
Expected and sensed sensory experience combine so that the actual evaluation of the food is closer to the expectations. (Soup label study Yeomans et al 2001)
Contrast Effect
Occurs when the expected and sensed sensory experience are very different resulting in a decrease in the rated quality of food. (Smoked Salmon Ice cream study Yeomans)
Variety influences how liking changes
Sensory specific Satiety (SSS) – Decrease in palatability of recently eaten food.
SSS and Obesity
Evidence that obese people show no within meal decrease in palatability for eaten foods (doesn’t apply?)
Decision making: Portion Size
91% of meals are completely finished (Fay et al 2011) 🡪
Decisions about how much we serve ourselves matter.
Increasing portion size makes us eat more. Visual cues are also important.
Expectations influence portion size sélections
Ideal portion size measure
Expected fillingness of food
Ideal portion size associated weith
Expected fillingness
Food utility
Modifying perceptions to reduce obesity
Establish healthy eating In childhood
Change eating environment
Increase expectations that food will be filling (🡪 smaller portions)
Regulate unhealthy food advertising
Decrease Variety (SSS)
Memory and Eating
Healthy Participants
When reporting what they had for lunch on the day (compared to the day before or anything). Participants ate considerably less.
Amnesiac Patients
Often eat multiple meals 🡪 Memory of recent eating is important for when we eat next.7
Memory and overeating
Disrupting coding of memories while eating can result in overeating in the next meal. One study found that when the memory of a meal was less vivid it led to greater food intake next meal.
Reducing intake by enhancing memories
Higgs and Donohoe (2011) participants who attended to food thoughts ate considerable more than those in a control group.
So we can enhance meal memories by increasing attention and decreasing distraction. Leading to better food intake.