title: Stopping to food can reduce intake. Effects of stimulus-specificity and individual differences in dietary restraint.
abstract: Overeating in our food-rich environment is a key contributor to obesity. Computerised response-inhibition training could improve self-control in individuals who overeat. Evidence suggests that training people to inhibit motor responses to specific food pictures can reduce the subsequent choice and consumption of those foods. Here we undertook three experiments using the stop-signal task to examine the effects of food and non-food related stop-training on immediate snack food consumption. The experiments examined whether training effects were stimulus-specific, whether they were influenced by the comparator (control) group, and whether they were moderated by individual differences in dietary restraint. Experiment 1 revealed lower intake of one food following stop- vs. double- (two key-presses) response training to food pictures. Experiment 2 offered two foods, one of which was not associated with stopping, to enable within- and between-subjects comparisons of intake. A second control condition required participants to ignore signals and respond with one key-press to all pictures. There was no overall effect of training on intake in Experiment 2, but there was a marginally significant moderation by dietary restraint: Restrained eaters ate significantly less signal-food following stop- relative to double-response training. Experiment 3 revealed that stop- vs. double-response training to non-food pictures had no effect on food intake. Taken together with previous findings, these results suggest some stimulus-specific effects of stop-training on food intake that may be moderated by individual differences in dietary restraint.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK; School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK. Electronic address: Natalia.Lawrence@exeter.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Natalia S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Lawrence
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK.
authors.forename: Frederick
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Verbruggen
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK.
authors.forename: Sinead
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK.
authors.forename: Rachel C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK.
authors.forename: Christopher D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Chambers
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007206:Individuality; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D062410:Snacks; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive training; Dietary restraint; Food intake; Overeating; Response inhibition; Stop Signal task