Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties in identifying, differentiating and describing feelings. A high prevalence of alexithymia has often been observed in clinical disorders characterized by low social functioning. This review aims to assess the association between alexithymia and the ability to decode emotional facial expressions (EFEs) within clinical and healthy populations. More precisely, this review has four main objectives: (1) to assess if alexithymia is a better predictor of the ability to decode EFEs than the diagnosis of clinical disorder; (2) to assess the influence of comorbid factors (depression and anxiety disorder) on the ability to decode EFE; (3) to investigate if deficits in decoding EFEs are specific to some levels of processing or task types; (4) to investigate if the deficits are specific to particular EFEs. Twenty four studies (behavioural and neuroimaging) were identified through a computerized literature search of Psycinfo, PubMed, and Web of Science databases from 1990 to 2010. Data on methodology, clinical characteristics, and possible confounds were analyzed. The review revealed that: (1) alexithymia is associated with deficits in labelling EFEs among clinical disorders, (2) the level of depression and anxiety partially account for the decoding deficits, (3) alexithymia is associated with reduced perceptual abilities, and is likely to be associated with impaired semantic representations of emotional concepts, and (4) alexithymia is associated with neither specific EFEs nor a specific valence. These studies are discussed with respect to processes involved in the recognition of EFEs. Future directions for research on emotion perception are also discussed.

This paper focuses on changes in food consumption that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its objective is to map changes at individual consumer level and identify the influence of different factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic on changes in individual food consumption. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey among 2,680 residents of Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), and Slovenia (SI) using quota sampling for gender, age and regional distribution. Data on consumption frequencies before and during the pandemic were collected with a food frequency questionnaire in the spring of 2020 (during the first lockdown period) for important types of fresh food and non-perishable food. Our results showed that, depending on the type of food, 15–42% of study participants changed their consumption frequency during the pandemic, compared to before. In all the study countries, the food categories with the highest rates of change were frozen food, canned food, and cake and biscuits; among the food categories with lower rates of change were bread, alcoholic drinks, and dairy products. People across all three countries shopped less frequently during lockdown and there was an overall reduction in the consumption of fresh foods, but an increase in the consumption of food with a longer shelf life in Denmark and Germany. Interestingly though, we observed diverging trends in all food categories analyzed, with some people decreasing and others increasing their consumption frequencies, demonstrating that the pandemic had different impacts on people's lifestyles and food consumption patterns. Using the method of multinomial regression analysis, we identified factors significantly (p < 0.01, p < 0.05, p < 0.1) related to increases and decrease in individuals' consumption frequencies in different food categories. The factors include restrictions put in place in response to the pandemic (i.e., closure of physical workplaces, canteens, cafés and restaurants, schools, and childcare institutions), changes in households' grocery shopping frequency, individuals' perceived risk of COVID-19, income losses due to the pandemic, and socio-demographic factors. Interesting differences between the countries were detected, allowing insights into the different food cultures. Conclusions include implications for policy-makers and actors in the food supply chain on the issues of healthy diets, food system resilience, and behavior change.

Progress monitoring and goal attainment 2 AbstractControl Theory and other frameworks for understanding self-regulation suggest that monitoring goal progress is a crucial process that intervenes between setting and attaining a goal, and helps to ensure that goals are translated into action. However, the impact of progress monitoring interventions on rates of behavioral performance and goal attainment has yet to be quantified. A systematic literature search identified 138 studies (N = 19,951) that randomly allocated participants to an intervention designed to promote monitoring of goal progress versus a control condition. All studies reported the effects of the treatment on Moderation tests revealed that progress monitoring had larger effects on goal attainment when the outcomes were reported or made public, and when the information was physically recorded. Taken together, the findings suggest that monitoring goal progress is an effective self-regulation strategy, and that interventions that increase the frequency of progress monitoring are likely to promote behavior change. The present review investigates the impact of monitoring goal progress on rates of goal attainment. Goals are mental representations of desired outcomes (Austin & Vancouver, 1996) -such as to run a marathon or to be happy -and goal intentions are selfinstructions to act towards those outcomes (Sheeran & Webb, 2011;Triandis, 1980). Goal intentions capture both the nature of the set goal (e.g., the number of exercise sessions that one intends to engage in this week) and how committed one is to attaining it (e.g., the strength of one's intention to exercise five times this week). Intentions are the starting point for the willful control of action (Gollwitzer & Moskowitz, 1996). However, evidence indicates that intentions have only a modest impact on performance. A meta-analysis of 47 experimental studies found that a medium-to-large-sized change in intentions had a smallto-medium-sized effect on subsequent behavior (Webb & Sheeran, 2006). Evidence indicates that people who intend to exercise do not necessarily do so (Rhodes & de Bruijn, 2013), that most people want to be happier than they are (Oishi, Diener, & Lucas, 2007), and that it has become almost as traditional to fail to achieve New Year's resolutions as it is to form them in the first place (Marlatt & Kaplan, 1972;Norcross & Vangarelli, 1988). In short, forming a goal intention is not, on its own, sufficient to ensure goal attainment (for reviews, see Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006;Sheeran, Milne, Webb, & Gollwitzer, 2005;Sheeran & Webb, 2011;Webb, 2006). This 'gap' between intention and action (Sheeran, 2002) has led researchers to investigate which factors determine intention-behavior consistency. For instance, properties of intentions such as temporal stability (Cooke & Sheeran, 2004; Sheeran & Abraham, Progress monitoring and goal attainment 4 2003), the extent of actual control over performance (Sheeran, Trafimow, & Armitage, 2003), and the operation of habits (Neal, Wood, Wu...

Background Inulin-type fructans (ITFs) are a type of fermentable dietary fiber that can confer beneficial health effects through changes in the gut microbiota. However, their effect on gut sensitivity and nutritional behavior is a matter of debate. Objective We evaluated the impact of consuming ITF-rich vegetables daily on gut microbiota, gastro-intestinal symptoms, and food-related behavior in healthy individuals. Methods A single group-design trial was conducted in 26 healthy individuals. During 2 wk, the participants were instructed to adhere to a controlled diet based on ITF-rich vegetables (providing a mean intake of 15 g ITF/d). Three test days were organized: before and after the nutritional intervention and 3 wk after returning to their usual diet. We assessed nutrient intake, food-related behavior, fecal microbiota composition, microbial fermentation, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Results The major microbial modifications during the intervention were an increased proportion of the Bifidobacterium genus, a decreased level of unclassified Clostridiales, and a tendency to decrease Oxalobacteraceae . These changes were reversed 3 wk after the intervention. The volunteers showed greater satiety, a reduced desire to eat sweet, salty, and fatty food, and a trend to increase hedonic attitudes towards some inulin-rich vegetables. Only flatulence episodes were reported during the dietary intervention, whereas intestinal discomfort, inversely associated with Clostridium cluster IV and Ruminococcus callidus , was improved at the end of the intervention. Conclusions A higher consumption of ITF-rich vegetables allows a substantial increase in well-tolerated dietary fiber, which may in turn improve food-related behavior. Moreover, it leads to beneficial modifications of the gut microbiota composition and function. This trial is registered at clinicaltrial.gov as NCT03540550.

HighlightsUsing eye tracking and interviews, we study consumers' behaviour online.We further examine what consumers consider when purchasing groceries online.Consumers preferred to browse products' categories rather than use search terms.Once on the product pages, participants paid most attention to pictures of products.We propose strategies to alert consumers to health-related information online.

Monitoring one's current standing with respect to goals can promote effective self-regulation. However, the present review suggests that there is an ostrich problem such that, in many instances, people have a tendency to "bury their head in the sand" and intentionally avoid or reject information that would help them to monitor their goal progress. For example, people with diabetes avoid monitoring their blood glucose, and few people monitor their household energy consumption, check their bank balances, keep track of what they are eating and so on. While situational constraints can explain some problems with progress monitoring, we use a self-motives framework to posit that the decision to avoid monitoring often represents the product of an interaction between different motives. For example, the desire to accurately assess progress may conflict with the desire to protect or enhance the self. The present review collates evidence pertaining to the ostrich problem, identifies different motives that underlie the decision to monitor versus not monitor goal progress, illustrates how the ostrich problem might be integrated into models of self-regulation, and provides suggestions for future research. In so doing, the review advances our understanding of the nature and determinants of intentionally deficient monitoring.Imagine that, following a festive period of excess, someone has set the goal of losing weight before the summer. How could this person find out whether he/she was making progress toward this goal? Assessing goal progress often requires an active decision (e.g., to keep a log of exercise or calories consumed, to step on the scales) and an objective appraisal of the information received. Given that the information gleaned from monitoring may not always be pleasant (e.g., it might suggest that progress is slower than expected), we contend that people may choose to 'bury their heads in the sand' and avoid such information. For example, Linde et al. (2005) found that 20% of people enrolled in a weight loss program reported to have never self-weighed prior to the program. In short, we suggest that there are instances in which people are motivated to avoid or reject information about goal progress, a psychological phenomenon that we call the ostrich problem.1 Our aim is to delineate the ostrich problem and discuss why it occurs and what its consequences might be. We also illustrate how the ostrich problem might be integrated into models of self-regulation and provide suggestions for future research on progress monitoring.Monitoring goal progress involves periodically noting the qualities of goal-related behavior or its outcomes and comparing these perceptions with salient reference values (Carver & Scheier, 1990). Different types of information on goal progress may be more or less accessible, and thus, the receipt of relevant information may be more or less intentional. For example, it is difficult not to notice significant changes in one's appearance that indicate whether one is successful at losing weigh...

In 3 experiments, we examined Perruchet, Cleeremans, and Destrebecqz's (2006) double dissociation of cued reaction time (RT) and target expectancy. In this design, participants receive a tone on every trial and are required to respond as quickly as possible to a square presented on 50% of those trials (a partial reinforcement schedule). Participants are faster to respond to the square following many recent tone-square pairings and slower to respond following many tone-alone presentations. Of importance, expectancy of the square is highest when performance on the RT task is poorest-following many tone-alone trials. This finding suggests that RT performance is determined by the strength of a tone-square link and that this link is the product of a non-expectancy-based learning mechanism. The present experiments, however, provide evidence that the speeded RTs are not the consequence of the strengthening and weakening of a tone-square link. Thus, the RT Perruchet effect does not provide evidence for a non-expectancy-based link-formation mechanism.

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is the most popular indirect measure of attitudes in social psychology. Rothermund and Wentura (2001, 2004) suggested that artifacts such as salience asymmetries are a source of compatibility effects in the IAT, and, therefore, the IAT does not necessarily measure attitude. They claim that salience asymmetries correspond with visual search asymmetries, such that the stimulus categories that are more quickly detected in a visual search task are also compatible in the IAT. We propose that processing fluency is a more reliable indicator of salience asymmetries in the IAT than are visual search asymmetries. To test this hypothesis, we set processing fluency in opposition to visual search asymmetry to see which variable better predicted IAT effects. In one pair of categories, the category that was more quickly detected in visual search was also more fluently processed in a binary classification task. In a second pair of categories, the category that was more quickly detected in visual search was the less fluently processed category. Across four experiments, we demonstrated that compatibility effects in the IAT corresponded with differences in processing fluency between categories, rather than with visual search asymmetries.