Demand characteristics in episodic future thinking: Delay discounting and healthy eating.

Rung, Jillian M.; Madden, Gregory J.

doi:10.1037/pha0000171

Cited by 32 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In the context of eating behaviour, by prompting individuals to vividly imagine their personal futures while they are making decisions about what to eat, they may be better able to connect how their eating behaviour today will influence their weight in the future, thereby helping them resist the temptation of appetitive food in the present. It should be noted, however, that there is some evidence that suggests the effects of episodic future thinking training on eating behaviour are heavily subject to demand characteristics, entailing that the effect of this intervention on eating behaviour may be inflated and may not generalize to long‐term measures such as weight loss over time …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Yang

Shields

et al. 2019

Obesity Reviews

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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. KEYWORDS cognitive training, eating behaviour, meta-analysis, weight loss 1 | INTRODUCTION Excess weight has become a cause of growing health care costs and accounts for over 2.8 million deaths per year, 1 emphasizing the need for effective treatment. In order to promote weight loss, interventions such as behavioural interventions or bariatric surgery are frequently implemented. However, the amount of weight loss achieved via behavioural weight loss interventions is, at best, only modest and rarely does it last. 2 Although bariatric surgery is an effective weight loss intervention for severe obesity, it is highly invasive and can result in medical complications. 3 Therefore, it is vital to identify novel, noninvasive interventions that foster weight loss. Recent literature emphasizes the importance of cognitive mechanisms in the regulation of eating behaviour and body weight. 4-7 Manypeople nowadays live in an obesogenic food environment and are constantly exposed to appetitive yet unhealthy foods, especially those that contain much sugar and fat. 8 In such an environment, unhealthy eating behaviour (eg, forgoing healthy foods in favour of inexpensive,

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Yang

Shields

et al. 2019

Obesity Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…It will be important to consider the potentially selective (domain specific) effects of episodic foresight in the development of cognitive and behavioural strategies that have future imagination at their core (Snider et al, 2016). Clinical translation of recent findings about the potentially causal role of foresight in decision-making will require appropriate caution given concerns regarding the potential for demand characteristics to explain these effects (Rung & Madden, 2018). The present findings are potentially in line with the idea that demand characteristics contributed to the effect of cued episodic foresight on decision-making, given that the manipulation only affected choice impulsivity domains with an explicit intertemporal trade-off, and not risk-taking -which lacks an explicit time component; and given that there was no temporal component in the neutral condition event cues for either task.…”

Section: No Effect Of Future Thinking On Risk-takingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cuing both positive and negative episodic foresight reduces delay discounting but does not affect risk-taking

Bulley

Miloyan

Pepper

et al. 2019

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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Humans frequently create mental models of the future, allowing outcomes to be inferred in advance of their occurrence. Recent evidence suggests that imagining positive future events reduces delay discounting (the devaluation of reward with time until its receipt), while imagining negative future events may increase it. Here, using a sample of 297 participants, we experimentally assess the effects of cued episodic simulation of positive and negative future scenarios on decision-making in the context of both delay discounting (monetary choice questionnaire) and risk-taking (balloon-analogue risk task). Participants discounted the future less when cued to imagine positive and negative future scenarios than they did when cued to engage in control neutral imagery. There were no effects of experimental condition on risk-taking. Thus, although these results replicate previous findings suggesting episodic future simulation can reduce delay discounting, they indicate that this effect is not dependent on the valence of the thoughts, and does not generalise to all other forms of “impulsive” decision-making. We discuss various interpretations of these results, and suggest avenues for further research on the role of prospection in decision-making.

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“…A number of studies have examined the impact of episodic future thinking (EFT) on decision-making and preferences ( Rung, Madden, 2018 , Bulley, Gullo, 2017 , Wu, Cheng, Chiou, 2017 , Kuo, Lee, Chiou, 2016 , Stein, Wilson, Koffarnus, Daniel, Epstein, Bickel, 2016 ). Episodic future thinking, one of several forms of prospective thinking, involves vivid mental simulation or visualization of possible future events, which activates brain regions involved in prospective thinking ( Atance and O’Neill, 2001 ), thereby inducing a future orientation ( Cheng, Shein, Chiou, 2012 , Chiou, Wu, 2016 ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can episodic future thinking affect food choices?

Segovia

Palma

Nayga³

2020

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

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Episodic future thinking, defined as the ability to project oneself into the future, has proven useful to pre-experience the future consequences of present actions. We investigate how episodic future thinking influences the food choices of normal weight, overweight, and obese individuals. In doing so, we conduct a controlled laboratory experiment in which participants are presented with representations of weight-increased and weight-reduced modified images of themselves before performing a food choice task. This allows subjects to vividly imagine the future consequences of their actions. We also test the effect of providing health-related information on food choices to compare with the episodic future thinking effect. Our results suggest that while providing health-related information increases the number of lite snack choices of overweight and obese individuals, engaging in episodic future thinking has a positive impact on the food choices of the obese only. These findings are supported by eye-tracking data showing how visual attention and emotional arousal (measured by pupil size) impact individuals’ food choices.

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Demand characteristics in episodic future thinking: Delay discounting and healthy eating.

Cited by 32 publications

References 28 publications

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

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

Cuing both positive and negative episodic foresight reduces delay discounting but does not affect risk-taking

Can episodic future thinking affect food choices?

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