- Email: [email protected]
Happy people. The influence of positive affect on appetitive motivation in attentional processing
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Abstracts / Appetite 71 (2013) 470–490
The impact of experimentally-induced positive mood on affect, eating behaviour, and eating-related responses. V. CARDI, M. ESPOSITO, A. CUNHA, J. TREASURE. C.A.R.E.D. The Basement, 103 Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK. [email protected]
Engagement in sensory play in preschool children as a predictor of food acceptance. H. COULTHARD, D. THAKKER. Division of Psychology, School of Health & Life Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK. [email protected]
Negative affect has been linked to abnormal eating patterns. The present study examined the impact of a video-clip aimed at inducing positive mood in a sample of healthy controls (HCs; N = 35) and a sample of patients with anorexic symptoms (EDs; N = 13). Participants took part in two experimental sessions comparing the use of a vodcast to increase positive mood (experimental condition) with the use of a video-clip with contents related to general knowledge (control condition) during a test-meal (smoothie). They completed baseline and post-meal self-report and behavioural assessments. The amount of smoothie consumed was also measured. No changes in mood, feelings of fatness, fullness, urge to exercise and restrict intake, attentional bias to food, and number of positive and negative words recalled occurred in the neutral condition for both groups. In the experimental condition, both healthy controls and patients reported higher levels of positive mood (HCs p = .04; EDs p = .01). Healthy controls also reported higher levels of fullness (p = .006) and showed a significant change of the attentional pattern to food stimuli (p = .03). The clinical sample reported also lower levels of negative mood (p = .04), recalled fewer negative words (p = .05), and showed a trend for a reduction in urge to restrict (p = .07) in the experimental condition. In terms of eating behaviour, the use of the positive mood vodcast was associated to a greater consumption of smoothie in the clinical sample (p = .02), whereas no differences between conditions were found in the healthy controls.
Previous research has shown that parental reports of food neophobia and sensory sensitivity are associated with lower fruit & vegetable (FV) intake in children. This study aimed to pilot a behavioural measure of sensory play in young children. The primary aim of the study was to see whether children’s enjoyment of sensory play could predict children’s FV consumption, as well as child food neophobia scores. Seventy 2–5 year old children and their parents were recruited through children’s centres in the Leicester region. Children’s engagement in two sensory play tasks was rated by both the researcher and parent. Parents were asked to complete a series of questionnaires measuring FV consumption, food neophobia, and sensory processing. The child’s average daily FV consumption, was predicted by parental FV portions, but not sensory play. However, a moderated regression showed that sensory play moderated the relationship between child and parental FV consumption, with children who did not enjoy sensory play being significantly less likely to model parental FV consumption. In addition, sensory play scores significantly predicted child food neophobia scores. A significant difference was discovered in the children’s willingness to try an unfamiliar fruit based on their child food neophobia scores. The findings strengthen the idea that sensory processing may be associated with the acceptance of food variety, but not the total amount of FV consumed. This holds implications for developing sensory play in order to increase children’s fruit range and potentially improve their health. Overall, the findings generated from this study can be utilised to provide a theoretical basis for the promotion of sensory play.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.06.014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.06.016 Ò
Using iButtons to measure pre- and post-prandial changes in liver temperature. S.E. COFFEY, R.L. GRIGGS, J.M. BRUNSTROM, D. FERRIDAY, P.J. ROGERS, M. HALLIWELL, C.A. HARDMAN. Nutrition & Behaviour Unit, School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, 12a Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TU, UK. sarah.coffey.2010@ my.bristol.ac.uk Consumption of food triggers a series of physiological responses that serve to optimise digestion, absorption and use of the ingested nutrients. These responses can also be conditioned, so can be elicited by cues that previously predicted food intake. Increased blood flow to the liver is one such response; however, the changes that occur pre- and post-prandially are not well-understood in humans. This may be due, in part, to a lack of appropriate measurement tools. For the first time, the current study used wireless temperature monitoring devices, known as iButtonsÒ, as a proxy measure of blood flow to the liver. Lean, female participants (N = 22) were fitted with iButtons, which were placed in the vicinity of the liver using ultrasonography. In a within-subjects design, continuous measures of liver temperature were taken in separate test sessions that consisted of (i) a food-consumption condition, (ii) an exposure-only condition, and (iii) a no-food control condition. Results indicated that, approximately 20 min after food consumption, there was a marked and significant increase in liver temperature. These findings confirm the efficacy of iButtons as a non-invasive measure of body temperature changes that are associated with food intake. They also open up several avenues for future research that could capitalise on this technique in order to examine conditioned changes in body temperature and the impact of inconsistent flavour-nutrient associations. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.06.015
Happy people: The influence of positive affect on appetitive motivation in attentional processing. G.R. DAVIDSON, T.C. KIRKHAM. Department of Experimental Psychology, Eleanor Rathbone Building, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Merseyside L69 7ZA, UK. [email protected] Considerable effort has been made in recent years to unravel the mechanisms by which motivational and affective processes impact on behaviour and reasoning. Recent research shows that attentional processing is strongly influenced by motivational states, such as appetite. However, little has been done to investigate how affective processes influence attentional selection with naturally occurring stimuli, which is motivationally arousing. This study utilised an adapted version of Piech et al’s (2010) emotional blink of attention (EBA) paradigm by using affective priming to investigate to effect of positive affect on attentional capture. Participants (n = 30) were required to detect targets appearing in a rapid stream of visually presented stimuli, after different types of distractors irrelevant to the task. Findings show that food stimuli were captured to a greater extent following priming of positive affect within the visual streams. The study demonstrates that EBA’s may be manipulated to alter affective state and measure its influence on motivationally arousing stimuli, though the opposite may also be possible. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.06.017
Abstracts / Appetite 71 (2013) 470–490
The impact of experimentally-induced positive mood on affect, eating behaviour, and eating-related responses. V. CARDI, M. ESPOSITO, A. CUNHA, J. TREASURE. C.A.R.E.D. The Basement, 103 Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK. [email protected]
Engagement in sensory play in preschool children as a predictor of food acceptance. H. COULTHARD, D. THAKKER. Division of Psychology, School of Health & Life Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK. [email protected]
Negative affect has been linked to abnormal eating patterns. The present study examined the impact of a video-clip aimed at inducing positive mood in a sample of healthy controls (HCs; N = 35) and a sample of patients with anorexic symptoms (EDs; N = 13). Participants took part in two experimental sessions comparing the use of a vodcast to increase positive mood (experimental condition) with the use of a video-clip with contents related to general knowledge (control condition) during a test-meal (smoothie). They completed baseline and post-meal self-report and behavioural assessments. The amount of smoothie consumed was also measured. No changes in mood, feelings of fatness, fullness, urge to exercise and restrict intake, attentional bias to food, and number of positive and negative words recalled occurred in the neutral condition for both groups. In the experimental condition, both healthy controls and patients reported higher levels of positive mood (HCs p = .04; EDs p = .01). Healthy controls also reported higher levels of fullness (p = .006) and showed a significant change of the attentional pattern to food stimuli (p = .03). The clinical sample reported also lower levels of negative mood (p = .04), recalled fewer negative words (p = .05), and showed a trend for a reduction in urge to restrict (p = .07) in the experimental condition. In terms of eating behaviour, the use of the positive mood vodcast was associated to a greater consumption of smoothie in the clinical sample (p = .02), whereas no differences between conditions were found in the healthy controls.
Previous research has shown that parental reports of food neophobia and sensory sensitivity are associated with lower fruit & vegetable (FV) intake in children. This study aimed to pilot a behavioural measure of sensory play in young children. The primary aim of the study was to see whether children’s enjoyment of sensory play could predict children’s FV consumption, as well as child food neophobia scores. Seventy 2–5 year old children and their parents were recruited through children’s centres in the Leicester region. Children’s engagement in two sensory play tasks was rated by both the researcher and parent. Parents were asked to complete a series of questionnaires measuring FV consumption, food neophobia, and sensory processing. The child’s average daily FV consumption, was predicted by parental FV portions, but not sensory play. However, a moderated regression showed that sensory play moderated the relationship between child and parental FV consumption, with children who did not enjoy sensory play being significantly less likely to model parental FV consumption. In addition, sensory play scores significantly predicted child food neophobia scores. A significant difference was discovered in the children’s willingness to try an unfamiliar fruit based on their child food neophobia scores. The findings strengthen the idea that sensory processing may be associated with the acceptance of food variety, but not the total amount of FV consumed. This holds implications for developing sensory play in order to increase children’s fruit range and potentially improve their health. Overall, the findings generated from this study can be utilised to provide a theoretical basis for the promotion of sensory play.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.06.014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.06.016 Ò
Using iButtons to measure pre- and post-prandial changes in liver temperature. S.E. COFFEY, R.L. GRIGGS, J.M. BRUNSTROM, D. FERRIDAY, P.J. ROGERS, M. HALLIWELL, C.A. HARDMAN. Nutrition & Behaviour Unit, School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, 12a Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TU, UK. sarah.coffey.2010@ my.bristol.ac.uk Consumption of food triggers a series of physiological responses that serve to optimise digestion, absorption and use of the ingested nutrients. These responses can also be conditioned, so can be elicited by cues that previously predicted food intake. Increased blood flow to the liver is one such response; however, the changes that occur pre- and post-prandially are not well-understood in humans. This may be due, in part, to a lack of appropriate measurement tools. For the first time, the current study used wireless temperature monitoring devices, known as iButtonsÒ, as a proxy measure of blood flow to the liver. Lean, female participants (N = 22) were fitted with iButtons, which were placed in the vicinity of the liver using ultrasonography. In a within-subjects design, continuous measures of liver temperature were taken in separate test sessions that consisted of (i) a food-consumption condition, (ii) an exposure-only condition, and (iii) a no-food control condition. Results indicated that, approximately 20 min after food consumption, there was a marked and significant increase in liver temperature. These findings confirm the efficacy of iButtons as a non-invasive measure of body temperature changes that are associated with food intake. They also open up several avenues for future research that could capitalise on this technique in order to examine conditioned changes in body temperature and the impact of inconsistent flavour-nutrient associations. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.06.015
Happy people: The influence of positive affect on appetitive motivation in attentional processing. G.R. DAVIDSON, T.C. KIRKHAM. Department of Experimental Psychology, Eleanor Rathbone Building, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Merseyside L69 7ZA, UK. [email protected] Considerable effort has been made in recent years to unravel the mechanisms by which motivational and affective processes impact on behaviour and reasoning. Recent research shows that attentional processing is strongly influenced by motivational states, such as appetite. However, little has been done to investigate how affective processes influence attentional selection with naturally occurring stimuli, which is motivationally arousing. This study utilised an adapted version of Piech et al’s (2010) emotional blink of attention (EBA) paradigm by using affective priming to investigate to effect of positive affect on attentional capture. Participants (n = 30) were required to detect targets appearing in a rapid stream of visually presented stimuli, after different types of distractors irrelevant to the task. Findings show that food stimuli were captured to a greater extent following priming of positive affect within the visual streams. The study demonstrates that EBA’s may be manipulated to alter affective state and measure its influence on motivationally arousing stimuli, though the opposite may also be possible. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.06.017