- Email: [email protected]
The effect of devaluation on food related motivation
K.M. Appleton, S. Higgs / Appetite 57 (2011) 553–569
Attention processing of food and interpersonally threatening stimuli in restrained eaters C. WILSON ∗ , D.J. WALLIS Loughborough University Centre for Research into Eating Disorders, School of Sport Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected] (C. Wilson). The aim of this study was to investigate attentional biases to food and interpersonally threatening words in restrained eaters. A modification of the Stroop colour-naming task permitted assessment of both orientation biases and slowed disengagement in order to clarify which component of attention bias is dominant in relation to these stimuli. Forty-eight females were assigned to high (n = 23) and low (n = 25) restraint groups according to scores on the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire. Responses to categorical target words (high calorie foods, interpersonal threat, animals) were compared with responses to matched neutral words. Words were presented in sequences of a target word followed by four neutral words, with slowed response latencies for the target word indicating an orientation bias, and slowed responses to the neutral word following the target word indicating a disengagement bias. Results revealed no evidence of biased orientation. Slowed disengagement was consistently found across conditions. However, this was also found in the neutral (animal) condition, and among restrained and unrestrained eaters. Significant interactions between restraint and performance in the food and interpersonal threat conditions only, suggests different patterns of response between those with high and low levels of restraint. These initial findings demonstrate the utility of a modified Stroop task to further our understanding of attentional biases and disengagement difficulties associated with various forms of eating psychopathology. This is important, given the proposed role of dwelling on concernrelated stimuli in the maintenance and exacerbation of eating psychopathology. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.103 Enhancing the satiety-relevant sensory properties of a preload improves energy intake compensation M.R. YEOMANS, L. CHAMBERS ∗ School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Chambers). Oro-sensory food properties have been reported to play a role in satiation but their role in satiety is less clear. If food sensory properties influence satiety by generating expectations about its energy content then the satiating quality of a food should increase as its sensory properties better predict the delivery of energy. To test this idea a factorial repeated-measures design was used to contrast the satiating effects of six beverage preloads, differing in energy content (low energy: LE or high energy: HE) and thickness and creaminess (low sensory: LS; medium sensory: MS; high sensory: HS). Thirty-six healthy non-obese men and women consumed each beverage 30 min before lunch on six separate days over a three week period; their satiety responses were assessed by subjective ratings of appetite and test lunch intake. Hunger immediately before lunch was influenced by both the energy content and sensory quality of the preload, with significantly lower hunger after consuming the HE than LE preload in the HS context, tending to be lower in the MS context and not differing in the LS context. Food intake at lunch was lower after the HE than LE preloads but this effect depended on the sensory context: the degree to which participants reduced their test meal intake to compensate for the added energy in the HE preloads was 88% in the HS context, 47% in the MS context and 17% in the LS context. These findings demon-
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strate that the satiating effects of a beverage preload depend on satiety-relevant sensory cues. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.104 The effect of devaluation on food related motivation H. ZIAUDDEEN ∗ , S. HOPKINS, S. RAZIK, I.S. FAROOQI, P.C. FLETCHER Institute of Metabolic Science, Level 4, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected] (H. Ziauddeen). Cues in our environment that predict the receipt of rewards such as foods can have powerful influences on behaviour. These are thought to be mediated by the ability of the cue to prime outcome-response associations that have yielded the outcome in the past. In our current environment, images of food and advertisements for them are pervasive and these may have a significant influence on eating behaviour via this mechanism. An experimental means of examining this influence is afforded by the Pavlovian to instrumental transfer (PIT) assay. This measures the ability of a Pavlovian cue that is associated with a reward to bias instrumental behaviour towards, and invigorate, actions that have previously yielded the same reward. A robust finding from the animal studies is that this transfer effect is resistant to devaluation of the rewarding outcome. In this experiment we investigated the sensitivity of the transfer effect to devaluation in 36 healthy human volunteers. Using a PIT paradigm with juice rewards we found a specific transfer effect with cues biasing instrumental responding towards responses that were associated with the same juice rewards. However when one of the juice rewards was subsequently devalued, participants decreased their responses to the now devalued outcome and its associated cue. Our findings suggest that unlike in animals, the influence of Pavlovian cues on instrumental behaviour is amenable to changes in the value of the associated outcome. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.105
Attention processing of food and interpersonally threatening stimuli in restrained eaters C. WILSON ∗ , D.J. WALLIS Loughborough University Centre for Research into Eating Disorders, School of Sport Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected] (C. Wilson). The aim of this study was to investigate attentional biases to food and interpersonally threatening words in restrained eaters. A modification of the Stroop colour-naming task permitted assessment of both orientation biases and slowed disengagement in order to clarify which component of attention bias is dominant in relation to these stimuli. Forty-eight females were assigned to high (n = 23) and low (n = 25) restraint groups according to scores on the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire. Responses to categorical target words (high calorie foods, interpersonal threat, animals) were compared with responses to matched neutral words. Words were presented in sequences of a target word followed by four neutral words, with slowed response latencies for the target word indicating an orientation bias, and slowed responses to the neutral word following the target word indicating a disengagement bias. Results revealed no evidence of biased orientation. Slowed disengagement was consistently found across conditions. However, this was also found in the neutral (animal) condition, and among restrained and unrestrained eaters. Significant interactions between restraint and performance in the food and interpersonal threat conditions only, suggests different patterns of response between those with high and low levels of restraint. These initial findings demonstrate the utility of a modified Stroop task to further our understanding of attentional biases and disengagement difficulties associated with various forms of eating psychopathology. This is important, given the proposed role of dwelling on concernrelated stimuli in the maintenance and exacerbation of eating psychopathology. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.103 Enhancing the satiety-relevant sensory properties of a preload improves energy intake compensation M.R. YEOMANS, L. CHAMBERS ∗ School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Chambers). Oro-sensory food properties have been reported to play a role in satiation but their role in satiety is less clear. If food sensory properties influence satiety by generating expectations about its energy content then the satiating quality of a food should increase as its sensory properties better predict the delivery of energy. To test this idea a factorial repeated-measures design was used to contrast the satiating effects of six beverage preloads, differing in energy content (low energy: LE or high energy: HE) and thickness and creaminess (low sensory: LS; medium sensory: MS; high sensory: HS). Thirty-six healthy non-obese men and women consumed each beverage 30 min before lunch on six separate days over a three week period; their satiety responses were assessed by subjective ratings of appetite and test lunch intake. Hunger immediately before lunch was influenced by both the energy content and sensory quality of the preload, with significantly lower hunger after consuming the HE than LE preload in the HS context, tending to be lower in the MS context and not differing in the LS context. Food intake at lunch was lower after the HE than LE preloads but this effect depended on the sensory context: the degree to which participants reduced their test meal intake to compensate for the added energy in the HE preloads was 88% in the HS context, 47% in the MS context and 17% in the LS context. These findings demon-
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strate that the satiating effects of a beverage preload depend on satiety-relevant sensory cues. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.104 The effect of devaluation on food related motivation H. ZIAUDDEEN ∗ , S. HOPKINS, S. RAZIK, I.S. FAROOQI, P.C. FLETCHER Institute of Metabolic Science, Level 4, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected] (H. Ziauddeen). Cues in our environment that predict the receipt of rewards such as foods can have powerful influences on behaviour. These are thought to be mediated by the ability of the cue to prime outcome-response associations that have yielded the outcome in the past. In our current environment, images of food and advertisements for them are pervasive and these may have a significant influence on eating behaviour via this mechanism. An experimental means of examining this influence is afforded by the Pavlovian to instrumental transfer (PIT) assay. This measures the ability of a Pavlovian cue that is associated with a reward to bias instrumental behaviour towards, and invigorate, actions that have previously yielded the same reward. A robust finding from the animal studies is that this transfer effect is resistant to devaluation of the rewarding outcome. In this experiment we investigated the sensitivity of the transfer effect to devaluation in 36 healthy human volunteers. Using a PIT paradigm with juice rewards we found a specific transfer effect with cues biasing instrumental responding towards responses that were associated with the same juice rewards. However when one of the juice rewards was subsequently devalued, participants decreased their responses to the now devalued outcome and its associated cue. Our findings suggest that unlike in animals, the influence of Pavlovian cues on instrumental behaviour is amenable to changes in the value of the associated outcome. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.105