title: The effect of learning climate on snack consumption and ego depletion among undergraduate students.
abstract: We explored the effect of controlled and autonomous learning choices on the consumption of a high-energy snack food, and also examined whether snack consumption during a controlled choice learning activity could 'up-regulate' subsequent performance on a self-regulation task. Participants were randomly assigned to a controlled choice learning condition in which food was provided, a controlled choice learning condition in which food was not provided, or an autonomous choice learning condition in which food was provided. Results indicated that the autonomous choice group consumed significantly less snack food than the controlled-choice-and-food group. Participants in the autonomous choice condition also performed better on the subsequent self-regulation task than the controlled-choice-and-food group, even after controlling for the amount of food consumed. Furthermore, within the controlled-choice-and-food condition, there was no association between food consumption and subsequent self-regulation task performance. Discussion focuses on the potential impact of a controlled learning climate on snack food consumption and on the degradation of self-regulation capacities.
authors.affiliation: The University of Western Australia, School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia. 10430566@student.uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Magaraggia
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dimmock
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D032763:Behavior Control / Q000523:psychology; D002182:Candy; D002755:Choice Behavior; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D004532:Ego; D002149:Energy Intake; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D062410:Snacks / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D019422:Dietary Sucrose
keywords: Learning; Motivation; Self-determination theory; Snacking