Do impulsive individuals benefit more from food go/no-go training? Testing the role of inhibition capacity in the no-go devaluation effect

Mechanisms underlying food devaluation after response inhibition to food

Multiple studies reveal that a requirement to stop a response to appetitive food stimuli causes devaluation of these stimuli. However, the mechanism underlying food devaluation after stopping is still under debate. The immediate-affect theory suggests that an increase in negative affect after stopping a response is the driving force for food devaluation. A competing value-updating theory presumes that food devaluation after stopping occurs through the need to align behavior with goals. The current study assessed how food devaluation after response inhibition is influenced by negative emotional reactivity and behavior-goal alignment on a trial-by-trial basis. The study included 60 healthy participants who completed a Food-Stop-Signal-Emotion task. Participants categorized high vs. low-calorie food stimuli and stopped their response upon encountering a stop signal. Subsequently, participants made subjective negativity ratings of negative- or neutral-valenced emotional images, and rated their desire to eat the previously depicted food. In contrast to predictions made by the immediate-affect account, food devaluation after stopping was not mediated nor moderated via changes in negative emotional reactivity after stopping. In support of the value-updating account, food devaluation was modulated by behavior-goal alignment, indicated by larger food devaluation after successful vs. failed stopping. In agreement with this theory, the findings indicate that devaluation occurs more strongly when performance aligns with the task requirement. This study sheds light on the mechanism that likely underlies food devaluation after stopping. Implications regarding applied use of food-inhibition trainings are discussed.

Testing Go/No-Go training effects on implicit evaluations of unhealthy and healthy snack foods

OBJECTIVE

Despite intending to eat healthy foods, people often yield to temptation. In environments rife with unhealthy food options, a positive implicit evaluation of unhealthy foods may inadvertently influence unhealthy choices. This study investigates if and under which conditions implicit evaluations of unhealthy and healthy foods can be influenced by a computer-based Go/No-Go (GNG) training.

DESIGN

Undergraduate student participants (N = 161 participants; 117 females, 44 males; Mage = 19 years, SD = 2 years) completed a GNG training with two healthy (grape and nut) and two unhealthy (potato chip and cookie) stimuli. Participants were either instructed to inhibit their responses to the potato chip (No-Go Chips/Go Grape) or to a grape (No-Go Grape/Go Chips).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Implicit evaluations of chips and grapes were assessed using the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task.

RESULTS

This GNG training impacted implicit evaluations of chips, but not grapes. GNG training effects were stronger for participants with lower sensitivity for behavioural inhibition measured with the Behavioural Inhibition System scale.

CONCLUSION

GNG training might help people change implicit food evaluations. More research is needed to understand how individual and training characteristics affect outcomes with the goal of tailoring and optimising the GNG training to produce the strongest effect.

Fostering positive attitudes toward food in individuals with restrained eating: the impact of flexible food-related inhibition

Individuals exhibiting restrained eating behaviors demonstrate increased inhibitory control when exposed to food-related stimuli, indicating the presence of an automatic food-inhibition association. Existing literature proposes that this association contributes to the devaluation of food within this population. Efforts to disrupt this association by promoting the complete elimination of the inhibition of food responses have resulted in increased food consumption but have also led to heightened food-related anxiety in individuals with restrained eating behaviors. In the current investigation, we investigated whether a novel flexible food response/inhibition computerized task could yield favorable changes in attitudes toward food in individuals with restrained eating. We randomly assigned 78 females who engage in restrained eating to one of three training groups. In the flexible response/inhibition group, participants were instructed to equally inhibit or respond to food stimuli. In the response group, participants consistently responded to food stimuli, while in the inhibition group, participants consistently inhibited their response to food cues. Implicit attitudes toward food were assessed both before and after the manipulation. To examine the stability of the effect of the training, participants also engaged in a seemingly unrelated bogus taste test. Our results revealed that only the flexible response/inhibition group demonstrated a significant improvement in positive attitudes toward high-calorie foods after eating, while there were no observable changes in negative attitudes among the other two groups. These findings suggest that promoting a balance between the responding and inhibiting responses to food stimuli can increase positive attitudes toward food amongst individuals with restrained eating.

Food go/no-go training alters neural circuits for food evaluation for appetite reduction

Food go/no-go training has been traditionally categorized as a type of inhibitory training that decreases the desire for high-calorie food consumption. This training requires participants to either respond or withhold their responses to presented items with go cues or food items with no-go cues, respectively. Recent findings have suggested that this training may devalue food items associated with no-go cues instead of facilitating inhibitory control, leading to reduced food consumption. We thus hypothesized that food go/no-go training would alter the brain response to food items with no-go cues in food evaluation regions. To examine this hypothesis, we conducted a repeated measures functional magnetic resonance imaging using food images in healthy participants, who underwent 3 weeks of food go/no-go training (n = 26) using high- and low-calorie food items paired with no-go cues (no-go food) and go cues (go food), respectively, and control training (n = 24). The food go/no-go training reduced the ratings for the desire to eat no-go foods and increased the ratings for go foods. The reduction in no-go food rating was positively associated with a decrease in daily snack intake. The neural responses in the food evaluation regions increased for go foods. Moreover, the functional connectivity of those regions was altered. The food go/no-go training did not decrease impulsivity traits or increase restrained eating, which are associated with inhibitory control. Overall, food go/no-go training influenced the brain regions associated with food evaluation, thus devaluating no-go foods and reducing the daily snack intake. Accordingly, food go/no-go training could promote healthier food choices.

Reduction in sugar drink valuation and consumption with gamified executive control training

The overvaluation of high-energy, palatable food cues contributes to unhealthy eating and being overweight. Reducing the valuation of unhealthy food may thus constitute a powerful lever to improve eating habits and conditions characterized by unhealthy eating. We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized intervention trial assessing the efficacy of a five to twenty days online cognitive training intervention to reduce sugary drink perceived palatability and consumption. Our intervention involved a recently identified action-to-valuation mechanism of action, in which the repeated inhibition of prepotent motor responses to hedonic food cues in a Go/NoGo (GNG) and an attentional bias modification (ABM) task eventually reduces their valuation and intake. Confirming our hypotheses, the experimental intervention with consistent (100%) mapping between motor inhibition and the targeted unhealthy sugary drinks cues induced a larger decrease in their valuation than the control intervention with inconsistent (50%) mapping (- 27.6% vs. - 19%), and a larger increase of the (water) items associated with response execution (+ 11% vs + 4.2%). Exploratory analyses suggest that the effect of training on unhealthy items valuation may persist for at least one month. Against our hypothesis, we observed equivalent reductions in self-reported consumption of sugary drinks following the two interventions (exp: - 27% vs. ctrl: - 19%, BF01 = 4.7), suggesting a dose-independent effect of motor inhibition on self-reported consumption. Our collective results corroborate the robustness and large size of the devaluation effects induced by response inhibition on palatable items, but challenge the assumption of a linear relationship between such effects and the actual consumption of the target items. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 30/03/2021. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/5ESMP .

Neural correlates of inhibitory control in severe class III compared with class I/II obesity using a sample of endometrial cancer survivors seeking weight loss

OBJECTIVE

No prior studies have evaluated inhibitory control in people with severe class III compared with class I/II obesity. Thus, the study aim was to evaluate inhibitory control and neural correlates of response inhibition by obesity class using a sample of endometrial cancer (EC) survivors with obesity, who have a higher risk of overall but not cancer-specific mortality.

METHODS

Forty-eight stage I EC survivors with obesity (class I/II: n = 21; class III: n = 27) seeking weight loss in a lifestyle intervention at baseline completed a stop signal task during functional magnetic resonance imaging.

RESULTS

It was found that participants with class III obesity had a longer stop signal reaction time (mean [SD], 278.8 [51.3] vs. 251.5 [34.0] milliseconds, p < 0.01) compared with those with class I/II obesity, indicating that patients with EC with severe obesity had greater impulsivity and poorer inhibitory control. Results also showed increased activation in the thalamus and superior frontal gyrus for the incorrect versus correct inhibition contrast in class III but not class I/II obesity (whole brain cluster corrected, p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

These results provide novel insights into inhibitory control and corresponding neural correlates in severe versus less severe classes of obesity and highlight the importance of targeting inhibitory control processes in weight-loss interventions, particularly for people with severe obesity and greater impulsivity.

How does Go/No-Go training lead to food devaluation? Separating the effects of motor inhibition and response valence

Palatable, unhealthy food stimuli can be devalued via Go/No-Go (GNG) training that consistently pairs such stimuli with motor inhibition. However, it remains unclear whether this devaluation is caused via learned associations with motor inhibition or via inferential learning based on the valence of emitted motor responses. The present research disentangles the effects of motor assignment and response valence in GNG training through task instructions. In two studies, chocolate stimuli were consistently paired with motor inhibition ("no-go") or with motor excitation ("go"). Task instructions indicated that no-go responses were negatively valenced ("do not take") and that go responses were positively valenced ("take"), or identified no-go responses as positively valenced ("keep") and go as negatively valenced ("throw away"). The results show an effect of response valence on chocolate evaluations, but no effect of motor assignment: Chocolate stimuli were consistently devalued following pairings with a negatively valenced response, regardless of whether this response entailed motor inhibition or excitation. These findings align best with an inferential account of GNG training, suggesting that devaluation effects critically depend on inferential processes regarding motor response valence. GNG training procedures may, therefore, be optimised by disambiguating the valence of go and no-go motor responses prior to training.

Comparing the effects of inhibitory control training and evaluative conditioning for unhealthy food behaviours

Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) is hypothesised to reduce unhealthy food preference and consumption through the completion of computerised cognitive training tasks. While there is evidence to suggest that two popular CBM paradigms (Inhibitory Control Training (ICT) and Evaluative Conditioning (EC)) can have a positive influence on food-related outcomes, issues (and inconsistencies) related to task standardisation and control group design make it difficult to evaluate their standalone efficacy. In a pre-registered laboratory study using a mixed experimental design, our aim was to directly compare a single session of ICT and EC on implicit preference, explicit choice and ad-libitum food intake, while ensuring appropriate active control groups were utilised for each training type (in addition to a passive control group). The results revealed that there were no significant differences in terms of implicit preferences, ad-libitum food consumption or food choice. These results provide limited evidence to support the use of CBM as a psychological intervention for unhealthy food choice or consumption. Further work is needed to isolate mechanisms of effect for successful training and identify the most effective CBM protocols for implementation in future studies.

Pilot study of food-specific go/no-go training for overweight individuals: brain imaging data suggest inhibition shapes food evaluation

Food-specific go/no-go training might reduce overeating and facilitate weight loss. In this pilot study, we examined whether a food-specific go/no-go training over five weeks, as compared to a non-food-specific training, could produce changes in behavioral and neural responses to food images and body weight. Here, we used a sample of 51 overweight participants divided into training and control groups whose brain activity and food evaluation were measured before and after the training. Compared with the control group, in the training group we found significant reductions in high-calorie food evaluation. We also found lower activations in inhibitory control- and reward-related brain regions in response to high-calorie food images. Further, activation change of the mid-insula in response to the high-calorie food images was positively associated with change in the evaluation of those images. However, we found no evidence for a significant effect of food-specific go/no-go training on body weight change. Our findings highlight that food-specific go/no-go training in overweight individuals can reduce high-calorie food evaluation, but also neural activations in inhibitory control- and reward- related brain regions.

Explicit and Implicit Devaluation Effects of Food-Specific Response Inhibition Training

The overvaluation of reward-associated stimuli such as energy-dense foods can drive compulsive eating behaviours, including overeating. Previous research has shown that training individuals to inhibit their responses towards appetitive stimuli can lead to their devaluation, providing a potential avenue for behaviour change. Over two preregistered experiments, we investigated whether training participants to inhibit their responses to specific foods would be effective in reducing their evaluations when these were assessed using both explicit and implicit measures. Participants completed an online session of go/no-go training with energy-dense foods that were consistently associated with either responding (go) or inhibiting a response (no-go). An 'explicit' devaluation effect was expected as a reduction in self-reported liking from pre-to post-training for no-go items compared to both go items and foods that were not presented during training (untrained items). An 'implicit' devaluation effect was then measured using the affective priming paradigm, by comparing differences in reaction times for congruent and incongruent trials (i.e., priming effects) between food primes. Experiment 1 revealed conclusive evidence for small-to-medium devaluation effects both in terms of explicit ratings and priming effects. We also observed that the priming effect for no-go items was close to zero. Experiment 2 successfully replicated most of the preregistered and exploratory outcomes from Experiment 1 except for the priming effect for untrained items. Potential explanations for this discrepancy are discussed but overall, these findings provide further support for a devaluation effect of response inhibition training. To our knowledge, our study provides the first evidence that training-induced devaluation can potentially be captured by affective priming measures, but more research is needed to further assess their sensitivity before they can be used to elucidate the mechanisms of action underlying devaluation effects.

Exploring acute and non-specific effects of mobile app-based response inhibition training on food evaluation and intake

Previous studies have demonstrated that response inhibition training can modify the appeal of palatable and energy-dense foods, thus serving as a potential intervention for weight management, via changes in food selection and intake. However, empirical findings of efficacy have been inconsistent across studies due to heterogenous approaches to measuring salient appetitive outcomes, training implementation strategies, and sample recruitment. Systematic assessment of both affective and motivational components of food reward may help characterise to what extent devaluation can be generalised to nutritionally similar foods post-training. In this mixed factorial experiment, a non-clinical, adult sample completed time-matched single sessions with mobile app-based response inhibition training and control tasks of short (12 min; n = 27) or long (20 min; n = 25) duration. Participants were assessed on two discrete facets of food reward pre- and post-training: pleasure (i.e., explicit liking) and desire (i.e., implicit wanting) for non-specific (i.e., novel) food stimuli differing in energy-density. Consumption of snacks categorised by energy density was also assessed in a laboratory ad libitum taste test post-training. No significant differences were found between intervention and control sessions on explicit liking or implicit wanting for non-specific energy-dense foods. Moreover, participants ate a similar volume of snack foods during both sessions. Training duration did not significantly moderate differences between intervention and control sessions in primary outcomes. Variance between intervention and control sessions in chocolate intake and frequency of choice for energy-dense foods, but not explicit liking, was associated with a higher BMI. Methodological and theoretical implications for appropriate intervention implementation and underlying mechanisms, respectively, are discussed.

Devaluation of NoGo stimuli is both robust and fragile

Consistently not responding to stimuli during go/no-go training leads to lower evaluations of these NoGo stimuli. How this NoGo-devaluation-effect can be explained has remained unclear. Here, we ran three experiments to test the hypothesis that people form stimulus-stop-associations during the training, which predict the strength of the devaluation-effect. In Experiment 1, we tried to simultaneously measure the stimulus-stop-associations and NoGo-devaluation, but we failed to find these effects. In Experiment 2, we measured NoGo-devaluation with established procedures from previous work, and stimulus-stop-associations with a novel separate task. Results revealed a clear NoGo-devaluation-effect, which remained visible across multiple rating blocks. Interestingly, this devaluation-effect disappeared when stimulus-stop-associations were measured before stimulus evaluations, and there was no evidence supporting the formation of the stimulus-stop-associations. In Experiment 3, we found evidence for the acquisition of stimulus-stop-associations using an established task from previous work, but this time we found no subsequent NoGo-devaluation-effect. The present research suggests that the NoGo-devaluation-effect and stimulus-stop-associations can be found with standard established procedures, but that these effects are very sensitive to alterations of the experimental protocol. Furthermore, we failed to find evidence for both effects within the same experimental protocol, which has important theoretical and applied implications.

Food-Specific Inhibition Training for Food Devaluation: A Meta-Analysis

Theories have suggested that food-specific inhibition training could lead to food devaluation which, in turn, may help people to regulate their eating behavior. In this review, we have synthesized the current literature on this topic by conducting a meta-analysis of studies investigating the effects of food-specific inhibition training on food evaluation. We identified 24 studies-with 36 independent samples, 77 effect sizes, and 3032 participants-that met our inclusion criteria. Effect sizes were analyzed using the robust variance estimation in random effects meta-regression technique. The results indicate that food-specific inhibition training can lead to statistically significant reductions in food evaluation. More specifically, it was observed that the effects of training on participants' food evaluation differed according to the type of evaluation; food-specific inhibition training significantly decreased participants' explicit food evaluation, but not their implicit food evaluation. However, because most of the included studies focused on trained food items and short-term outcomes in normal-weight samples, more research is needed on the continuance of the training effects, as well as on the extent to which effects can be generalized to untrained food items or different populations (e.g., overweight or obese individuals).

The evidential value of research on cognitive training to change food-related biases and unhealthy eating behavior: A systematic review and p-curve analysis

Cognitive bias modification (CBM), which retrains implicit biases towards unhealthy foods, has been proposed as a promising adjunct to improve the efficacy of weight loss interventions. We conducted a systematic review of research on three CBM approaches (i.e., cue-specific inhibitory control, approach bias modification, and attentional bias modification) for reducing unhealthy eating biases and behavior. We performed a p-curve analysis to determine the evidential value of this research; this method is optimally suited to clarify whether published results reflect true effects or false positives due to publication and reporting biases. When considering all CBM approaches, our results suggested that the findings of CBM trials targeting unhealthy eating are unlikely to be false positives. However, only research on attentional bias modification reached acceptable levels of power. These results suggest that CBM interventions may be an effective strategy to enhance the efficacy of weight loss interventions. However, there is room for improvement in the methodological standards of this area of research, especially increasing the statistical power can help to fully clarify the clinical potential of CBM, and determine the role of potential moderators.

Effects of go/no-go training on food-related action tendencies, liking and choice

Inhibitory control training effects on behaviour (e.g. 'healthier' food choices) can be driven by changes in affective evaluations of trained stimuli, and theoretical models indicate that changes in action tendencies may be a complementary mechanism. In this preregistered study, we investigated the effects of food-specific go/no-go training on action tendencies, liking and impulsive choices in healthy participants. In the training task, energy-dense foods were assigned to one of three conditions: 100% inhibition (no-go), 0% inhibition (go) or 50% inhibition (control). Automatic action tendencies and liking were measured pre- and post-training for each condition. We found that training did not lead to changes in approach bias towards trained foods (go and no-go relative to control), but we warrant caution in interpreting this finding as there are important limitations to consider for the employed approach-avoidance task. There was only anecdotal evidence for an effect on food liking, but there was evidence for contingency learning during training, and participants were on average less likely to choose a no-go food compared to a control food after training. We discuss these findings from both a methodological and theoretical standpoint and propose that the mechanisms of action behind training effects be investigated further.

Food-related inhibitory control training reduces food liking but not snacking frequency or weight in a large healthy adult sample

Inhibitory control training has recently been used as an intervention to aid healthy eating and encourage weight loss. The aim of this pre-registered study was to explore the effects of training on food liking, food consumption and weight loss in a large (n = 366), predominantly healthy-weight sample. Participants received four training sessions within a week, in which they had to inhibit their responses to either energy-dense foods (active group) or non-food images (control group). Subjective food ratings, food consumption frequency and weight were measured pre- and post-training. At two-weeks post-training, the active group reported a greater reduction in liking for energy-dense foods, compared to the control group. Active participants also reported a significantly greater increase in healthy food liking, immediately post-training, relative to the control group. There was no statistically significant difference between groups for the change in consumption of trained foods or for weight loss. These findings are partially consistent with previous research conducted in smaller, more overweight samples. Exploratory analyses suggest that some effects of training may be driven by awareness effects. Methodological differences across findings and avenues for future investigation are discussed.

Modifying food items valuation and weight with gamified executive control training

Recent lines of research suggest that repeated executive control of motor responses to food items modifies their perceived value and in turn their consumption. Cognitive interventions involving the practice of motor control and attentional tasks have thus been advanced as potential approach to improve eating habits. Yet, their efficacy remains debated, notably due to a lack of proper control for the effects of expectations. We examined whether a one-month intervention combining the practice of Go/NoGo and Cue approach training modified the perceived palatability of food items (i.e. decrease in unhealthy and increase in healthy food items' palatability ratings), and in turn participants' weights. We assessed our hypotheses with a parallel, double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Motivation and adherence to the intervention were maximized by a professional-level gamification of the training tasks. The control intervention differed from the experimental intervention only in the biasing of the stimulus-response mapping rules, enabling to balance expectations between the two groups and thus to conclude on the causal influence of motoric control on items valuation. We found a larger decrease of the unhealthy items' palatability ratings in the experimental (20.6%) than control group (13.1%). However, we did not find any increase of the healthy items' ratings or weight loss. Overall, the present registered report confirms that the repeated inhibition of motor responses to food cues, together with the development of attentional biases away from these cues, reduces their perceived value.

How can food choice best be trained? Approach-avoidance versus go/no-go training

Behavior toward appetitive stimuli can be changed by motor response training procedures in which participants approach or respond to some stimuli and avoid or inhibit behavior to other stimuli. There is discussion in the literature whether effects are different when participants approach versus avoid stimuli during approach-avoidance training compared to when they respond versus not respond to stimuli during go/no-go training. Here, we directly compared effects of approach-avoidance training and go/no-go training on food choice within the same rigorous experimental protocol. Results showed that both training procedures influence food choice such that participants preferred Approach over Avoidance food items, and Go over NoGo food items, and these training effects were not statistically different. The present work suggests any inconsistencies in the literature on possible differences in effectiveness of these training procedures may be explained by differences in methods employed. The present work also raises new theoretical and applied questions about motor response training as a means to change behavior.

The Influence of Response Inhibition Training on Food Consumption and Implicit Attitudes toward Food among Female Restrained Eaters

Restrained eaters display difficulties engaging in self-control in the presence of food. Undergoing cognitive training to form associations between palatable food and response inhibition was found to improve self-control and influence eating behaviors. The present study assessed the impact of two such response inhibition trainings on food consumption, food-related anxiety, and implicit attitudes toward food among female restrained eaters (Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire-restrained eating subscale ≥ 2.5). In Experiment 1, 64 restrained eaters completed either one of two training procedures in which they were asked to classify food vs. non-food images: a food-response training, in which stop cues were always associated with non-food images, or a balanced food-response/inhibition training, in which participants inhibited motor actions to food and non-food stimuli equally. The results revealed reduced snack consumption following the food-response/inhibition training compared to the food-response training. The food-response training was associated with increased levels of food-related anxiety. In Experiment 2, the same training procedures were administered to 47 restrained eaters, and implicit attitudes toward palatable foods were assessed. The results revealed an increase in positive implicit attitudes toward palatable foods in the food-response/inhibition group but not in the food-response training group. The results suggest that balancing response inhibition and execution across food and non-food stimuli may reduce overeating while retaining positive attitudes toward food among female restrained eaters.

Does alcohol cue inhibitory control training survive a context shift?

Inhibitory control training (ICT) is a novel psychological intervention that aims to improve inhibitory control in response to alcohol-related cues through associative learning. Laboratory studies have demonstrated reductions in alcohol consumption following ICT compared with control/sham training, but it is unclear if these effects are robust to a change of context. In a preregistered study, we examined whether the effects of ICT would survive a context shift from a neutral context to a seminaturalistic bar setting. In a mixed design, 60 heavy drinkers (40 female) were randomly allocated to receive either ICT or control/sham training in a neutral laboratory over 2 sessions. We developed a novel variation of ICT that used multiple stop signals to establish direct stimulus-stop associations. The effects of ICT/control were measured once in the same context and once following a shift to a novel (alcohol-related) context. Our dependent variables were ad libitum alcohol consumption following training, change in inhibitory control processes, and change in alcohol value. ICT did not reduce alcohol consumption in either context compared with the control group. Furthermore, we demonstrated no effects of ICT on inhibitory control processes or alcohol value. Bayesian analyses demonstrated overall support for the null hypotheses. This study failed to find any effects of ICT on alcohol consumption or candidate psychological mechanisms. These findings illustrate the difficulty in training alcohol-inhibition associations and add to a growing body of literature suggesting that ICT holds little evidential value as a psychological intervention for alcohol use disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Go/no-go for food: Attention bias and intention to eat unhealthy food

OBJECTIVE

The current research evaluated whether Go/No-go training for highly palatable (HP) food affected attention bias for HP food (an automatic/implicit outcome) and intention to eat unhealthy food (a controlled/explicit outcome).

METHOD

A sample of Australian adults representative for age, gender and Body Mass Index (BMI) (N = 561, M_age = 46.31 years, SD = 16.75, 52.3% women, M_BMI = 27.11, SD = 6.34) completed self-report measures of dietary psychological constructs and food image modified Stroop tasks as measures of pre- and post-test attention bias for HP food. After random assignment of participants to two conditions, a Go/No-go intervention was used to train HP food targeted inhibitory control in the experimental group, or general inhibitory control in the control group. All research tasks were delivered online.

RESULTS

The experimental, HP food inhibitory control training group reported intention to eat less unhealthy food than the control group, F (1, 637) = 4.81, R² = 0.09, p = .029. Counter to expectations, the experimental group exhibited a heightened attention bias to HP food images after the training, F (1, 637) = 9.48, R² = 0.39, p = .002.

CONCLUSION

Go/No-go training for food may improve both top-down and bottom-up inhibitory control, using both automatic and controlled processes. Further, it may not be effective in lowering attention bias for HP food, but may be effective in lowering unhealthy food intake despite raising attention bias for HP food. Further research that tests these effects using varied reaction time tasks is needed to confirm these results and to explore possible alternative explanations.

Decreased emotional eating behavior is associated with greater excess weight loss five years after gastric banding

While significant weight loss has been observed in the first two years following adjustable gastric banding (AGB), research on the long-term effectiveness of gastric restriction (e.g., 5 years) both on weight loss and eating behavior changes is scarce. The present study examined obese patients' changes in eating behavior preoperatively and 5 years after AGB and examined their associations with excess weight loss (EWL). Specifically, we focused on the association between the modification of three eating behavior profiles (i.e., restrained eating, emotional eating and external eating) and %EWL at 5 years. Among the 197 participants who underwent AGB, 136 completed the clinical assessments (weight, depression with the BDI, eating behavior with the DEBQ) before surgery, and after 5 years. Resultsshowed that the mean percentage of EWL was 47% after 5 years. Moreover, patients reported lower emotional eating and external eating after 5 years in comparison to the baseline, whereas there were no differences concerning restrained eating. Importantly, patients who presented higher %EWL at 5 years also reported a greater decrease in emotional eating between the two sessions than those with low %EWL. Our study underlines that eating behaviors are major variables involved in weight loss after gastric restriction. Results showed that emotional and external eating decreased significantly at 5 years whereas restrained eating behaviors did not vary between the pre- and postoperative stages. Moreover, the data suggest that a decrease in emotional eating accounts for the extent of EWL.

Developmentally informed behaviour change techniques to enhance self-regulation in a health promotion context: a conceptual review

Self-regulation (SR), or the ability to manage thoughts, emotions, and behaviours in order to achieve a desired goal, is seen as underlying positive health behaviours. In adults, behaviour change techniques (BCTs) are recommended to promote SR across health domains; although establishing healthy habits early in life is important, studies of SR and health in children are rare. This conceptual review provides guidance on developmental considerations for applying BCTs to enhance SR capacity in children and youth with the goal of fostering positive behavioural health trajectories early in the lifespan. Key considerations include the nature of developmental changes in SR and interaction among SR processes; temporal associations between SR and health behaviours; and relevance of health goals for children and youth. Building on a meta-review of BCT's used to promote SR in adults and youth, this conceptual review highlights key SR milestones to consider in behaviour change-focused interventions from early childhood through adolescence and provides an overview of social-ecologic influences on SR development and associations between SR and health behaviours across these age periods. Implications for and examples of using developmentally-informed BCTs in interventions to enhance SR in children and youth are noted and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Cognitive training on eating behaviour and weight loss: A meta-analysis and systematic review

Cognitive deficits play a role in the development and maintenance of overeating and obesity, and cognitive training in obesity refers to a family of interventions aimed at reducing overeating and obesity by improving these cognitive deficits. In this review, we synthesize the current literature on these issues by conducting a meta-analysis of studies investigating the effects of cognitive trainings on eating behaviour and presenting a systematic review of studies investigating the effects of cognitive trainings on weight loss. We examined 66 independent experiments that examined the effects of cognitive training aimed at reducing cognitive bias or improving executive control on eating behaviour and weight loss. Overall, inhibition training, attention bias modification training, and episodic future thinking training significantly influenced eating behaviour; however, approach/avoidance training did not significantly influence eating behaviour. Moderator analyses indicated that the effect of inhibition training on eating behaviour was moderated by training task and food novelty, the effect of approach/avoidance training was moderated by food type, and the effect of episodic future thinking training was moderated by type of episodic future thinking. Literature reviewed on cognitive training and weight loss provided preliminary support for the effects of food-specific inhibition training on weight loss from pre-intervention to post intervention. However, because most of the included studies focused on short-term outcomes in normal-weight samples, longer duration studies in clinical populations (eg, individuals with obesity) are needed to examine the generalizability of these results.

Food Addiction: Implications for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Overeating

With the obesity epidemic being largely attributed to overeating, much research has been aimed at understanding the psychological causes of overeating and using this knowledge to develop targeted interventions. Here, we review this literature under a model of food addiction and present evidence according to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) criteria for substance use disorders. We review several innovative treatments related to a food addiction model ranging from cognitive intervention tasks to neuromodulation techniques. We conclude that there is evidence to suggest that, for some individuals, food can induce addictive-type behaviours similar to those seen with other addictive substances. However, with several DSM-5 criteria having limited application to overeating, the term ‘food addiction’ is likely to apply only in a minority of cases. Nevertheless, research investigating the underlying psychological causes of overeating within the context of food addiction has led to some novel and potentially effective interventions. Understanding the similarities and differences between the addictive characteristics of food and illicit substances should prove fruitful in further developing these interventions.

A biopsychosocial approach to processes and pathways in the development of overweight and obesity in childhood: Insights from developmental theory and research

Childhood obesity has reached alarming proportions in many countries. There is consensus that both biological (especially genetic) and environmental (including psychosocial) factors contribute to weight gain and obesity in childhood. Research has identified extensive risk or predictive factors for childhood obesity from both of these domains. There is less consensus about the developmental processes or pathways showing how these risk factors lead to overweigh/obesity (OW/OB) in childhood. We outline a biopsychosocial process model of the development of OW/OB in childhood. The model and associated scholarship from developmental theory and research guide an analysis of research on OW/OB in childhood. The model incorporates biological factors such as genetic predispositions or susceptibility genes, temperament, and homeostatic and allostatic processes with the psychosocial and behavioral factors of parenting, parental feeding practices, child appetitive traits, food liking, food intakes, and energy expenditure. There is an emphasis on bidirectional and transactional processes linking child biology and behavior with psychosocial processes and environment. Insights from developmental theory and research include implications for conceptualization, measurement, research design, and possible multiple pathways to OW/OB. Understanding the developmental processes and pathways involved in childhood OW/OB should contribute to more targeted prevention and intervention strategies in childhood.

Impulsiveness in Reactive Dieters: Evidence From Delay Discounting in Orthodontic Patients

Introduction: Researchers have made efforts to distinguish the behavioral differences and underlying mechanisms that explain the various possible outcomes of dieting (success, failure and relapse). Although extensive research has demonstrated that eating behavior and individual impulsiveness are closely related to subjective appetite and decision making, very few studies have investigated how subjective and appetite impulsiveness is affected by reactive dieting. Methods: In the present study, we utilized the power of food scale (PFS) and the intertemporal choice task and to examine subjective appetite and impulsivity of decision making in orthodontic patients. As a result of their orthodontic devices and the subsequent pain and discomfort caused by eating, these patients become reactive dieters. In order to explore the dynamic influence of orthodontic treatment on appetite and impulsiveness, we collected data for both patients and control participants across three testing sections. We also computed a regression model for further exploration in explaining how potential factors contributed to different choices. Results: We found that the orthodontic group scored significantly lower in PFS than the control group, which indicated a suppression in appetite. Besides, reward and waiting time were significant factors in computational perspective. Moreover, although patients showed a bias in choosing smaller, immediate reward options, they exhibited a decrease in the delay discounting rate as treatment progressed. These findings confirm that subjective appetite and impulsiveness were inhibited due to reactive dieting.

Causes of Emotional Eating and Matched Treatment of Obesity

PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW

Eating in response to negative emotions (EE) may be an explanatory factor of the weight regain of many dieters. This narrative review presents evidence on possible causes of EE and the association of EE with depression and obesity and discusses implications of these findings for the treatment of obesity.

RECENT FINDINGS

Possible causes of EE are high dietary restraint, poor interoceptive awareness, alexithymia, emotion dysregulation and a reversed hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) stress axis. EE may be the outcome of inadequate parenting or depressive feelings in interaction with genetic susceptibility. There is also robust evidence that EE is a mediator between depression and obesity. The association of EE with depression and poor emotion regulation skills suggests that the treatment of obese people with high EE should not focus on calorie-restricted diets but on emotion regulation skills. The DEBQ (Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire) enables such a matched treatment of obesity.