Calories count: Memory of eating is evolutionarily special

Eating behavior as a new frontier in memory research

“…Indeed in our own studies (see discussion below), we have found evidence of weak positive correlations between memory of eating (Seitz et al, 2021) and memory of high calorie food stimuli (Seitz, Equita, Tomiyama, & Blaisdell, 2020) and BMI. Thus, individuals with overweight and obesity might show some memory biases towards eating and food relevant cues but this remains poorly understood.…”

“…Participants picked up the food item and placed it in their mouths-in contrast to food being pumped into their mouths and the memory test involved recall of how many M&Ms were consumed. As hypothesized, participants who completed a slow version of the MEaT, consuming 30 M&Ms on average once every 45 s, were significantly more accurate in remembering how many M&Ms they consumed compared to participants who consumed 30 M&Ms quickly (on average once every 15 s) (Seitz et al, 2021). This occurred even though the retrieval interval was identical in both conditions (i.e., the fast group started eating later into the video so both groups ended at the same time).…”

“…One possible explanation of these inconsistencies is that memory for eating in the control conditions is already exceptionally strong, which would explain why memory for eating is not always enhanced by these manipulations, nor is future eating always reduced. Evidence in favor of this interpretation comes from a recent study that showed even distracted eating is better remembered than other similar behaviors (Seitz, Blaisdell, & Tomiyama, 2021). Thus, while it may be possible to reduce memory of eating through distraction, all things equal, eating events are likely to be well remembered (likely because of their evolutionary significance; see below).…”

“…While these studies suggest the caloric density of a food item might enhance spatial memory, they are correlational in nature, two have simply used food images, and they do not speak to whether caloric density influences memory for how much food was consumed-an episodic component of the memory separate from its spatial location. Seitz, Blaisdell, and Tomiyama (2021) provided an experimental test of the influence of caloric density on memory for how much food was consumed. Participants completed the Memory of Eating Task (MEaT) whereby they watched a video while being cued to eat every time a tone was sounded.…”

“…To test immediately after encoding and speak specifically to the retrieval strength of the encoded memory of eating (Bjork & Bjork, 1992), Seitz et al (2021) used the MEaT task (described above) to investigate how eating rate influences memory of eating immediately following the initial eating event. Participants picked up the food item and placed it in their mouths-in contrast to food being pumped into their mouths and the memory test involved recall of how many M&Ms were consumed.…”