title: Targeting implicit approach reactions to snack food in children: Effects on intake.
abstract: Implicit approach reactions to energy-dense snack food can facilitate unhealthy eating in children. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test whether modifying implicit reactions to snack food by means of a go/no-go task can reduce consumption of this food. The effectiveness of this intervention on actual snack intake after exposure to a food or a control advertisement was tested.
  
  
  
  Children (133; age range = 7-10 years) played an advergame promoting either energy-dense food or nonfood products. Subsequently, children conducted either a go/no-go food task in which the advertised food was consistently associated with no-go cues, or a go/no-go control task in which colored circles were consistently associated with no-go cues. Afterward, they could eat the advertised food and a new food. Candy intake was weighed and caloric intake was determined.
  
  
  
  Results show that children who performed the go/no-go food task consumed significantly and considerably fewer calories (34%) than the children who carried out the control task. No main effect of type of advertisement was found. Furthermore, the effect of the go/no-go food task was similar after each type of advertisement, similar for advertised and new foods, and was significant for both girls and boys.
  
  
  
  Targeting implicit reactions to high-energy snacks proved effective in decreasing intake of snacks in children. Furthermore, the previously reported stimulating effect of food promoting advergames on intake may disappear when a short cognitive task is presented directly after the game. Future work should evaluate the clinical implications of these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors: Behavioral Science Institute.
authors: Frans
authors: F
authors: Folkvord
authors: Behavioral Science Institute.
authors: Harm
authors: H
authors: Veling
authors: Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, Utrecht University.
authors: Hans
authors: H
authors: Hoeken
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003463:Cues; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D062410:Snacks / Q000523:psychology*