Eat Me If You Can: Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying the Distance Effect

Junghans, Astrid F.; Evers, Catharine; Ridder, Denise T. D. de

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0084643

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The bowls on the pictures were exhibited at slightly different combinations of distances to avoid the repetition of identical pictures. Whereas previous research has shown effects of stimulus distance ( Junghans, Evers, & De Ridder, 2013 ), differences employed here were much smaller (~ 10–15 cm).…”

Section: Methodscontrasting

confidence: 83%

UnAdulterated — Children and adults' visual attention to healthy and unhealthy food

et al. 2015

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ObjectiveVisually attending to unhealthy food creates a desire to consume the food. To resist the temptation people have to employ self-regulation strategies, such as visual avoidance. Past research has shown that self-regulatory skills develop throughout childhood and adolescence, suggesting adults' superior self-regulation skills compared to children.MethodsThis study employed a novel method to investigate self-regulatory skills. Children and adults' initial (bottom-up) and maintained (top-down) visual attention to simultaneously presented healthy and unhealthy food were examined in an eye-tracking paradigm.ResultsResults showed that both children and adults initially attended most to the unhealthy food. Subsequently, adults self-regulated their visual attention away from the unhealthy food. Despite the children's high self-reported attempts to eat healthily and importance of eating healthily, children did not self-regulate visual attention away from unhealthy food. Children remained influenced by the attention-driven desire to consume the unhealthy food whereas adults visually attended more strongly to the healthy food thereby avoiding the desire to consume the unhealthy option.ConclusionsThe findings emphasize the necessity of improving children's self-regulatory skills to support their desire to remain healthy and to protect children from the influences of the obesogenic environment.

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Section: Methodscontrasting

confidence: 83%

UnAdulterated — Children and adults' visual attention to healthy and unhealthy food

et al. 2015

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“…In a previous study involving food, Junghans et al (2013) showed that eating-related information was more strongly activated by the sight of proximal than distant food. Participants were shown images of proximal or distant food or other objects, followed by words relating to eating, observation, or other content.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Appropriate body-movements are not based on mere mental computations, but an organism’s functioning essentially depends on the environment surrounding it. Previous research involving a number of animal species and humans has shown that objects, including food, in the proximal environment automatically activate, and facilitate possibilities for motoric movements in interaction with the objects, so-called affordances ( Costantini et al, 2011 ; Junghans et al, 2013 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defying Food – How Distance Determines Monkeys’ Ability to Inhibit Reaching for Food

et al. 2016

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Objects, such as food, in the environment automatically activate and facilitate affordances, the possibilities for motoric movements in interaction with the objects. Previous research has shown that affordance activation is contingent upon the distance of the object with only proximal objects activating potential movements. However, the effect of affordance-activating proximal objects on the ability to inhibit movements has been unaddressed. The current study addressed this question with two experiments on long-tailed macaques. In both experiments monkeys were situated behind a Plexiglass screen that prevented direct access to food placed right behind the screen. The food could only be reached via a detour through one of two holes on the sides of the screen. It was assessed whether monkeys’ ability to inhibit the unsuccessful immediate reaching movement forward toward the food depended on the distance at which the food was presented. Results of both Experiments revealed that monkeys reached for the proximally positioned food significantly more than for the distally positioned food, despite this Plexiglass screen preventing successful obtainment of the food. The findings reveal the effect of proximal, affordance-activating objects on the ability to resist movements involved in interacting with the objects. Implications for humans, living in environments in which proximal, or accessible food is constantly available are discussed. The findings can contribute to an understanding of why resisting accessible food in the environment is often unsuccessful.

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“…However, despite participants reporting motoric difficulties with eating in the dark (Scheibehenne et al, 2010), a systematic examination and experimental variation of how the ability to maneuver in dark conditions affects consumption has been missing. Previous research has indicated that eating behaviour is influenced by accessibility of food (Wansink, Painter, & Lee, 2006), visual information about the food consumed (Wansink, Painter, & North, 2005), as well as the degree to which it yields immediate interaction such as grasping and eating (Junghans, Evers, & de Ridder, 2013). In line with this body of research, we posit that an understanding of how the ability to maneuver in dark settings influences eating behaviour is essential to ensure a holistic interpretation of the effects of food visibility on consumption.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 66%