Teaching healthy food choices through stimulus equivalence.

Abstract

The present study evaluated the effect of teaching nutritional information on the choice making of undergraduate students. The training procedure was based on the phenomenon of stimulus equivalence in order to create an efficient and effective method of teaching this type of information. Participants were asked to sort pictures of fast food items into categories of caloric content before and after they received relational training. Additionally, they were asked to select items they would like to eat immediately prior to and following the training procedure. Results indicated the number of items sorted correctly substantially increased for all participants and four of six participants made healthier choices following the intervention. Implications of teaching nutritional information as part of a behavioral model of weight loss treatment are discussed.

Using Stimulus-Equivalence Technology to Teach Skills About Nutritional Content

“…Hence, the stimuli used for each participant were tailored based on the results from the sorting test. This type of arrangement for tailoring of the stimuli used in the present experiment is in accordance with other experiments (Nastally et al, 2010 ), and tailored nutritional education has been highlighted by other researchers (Oenema, Brug, & Lechner, 2001 ).…”

“…However, in further research, this should be specified in more detail. Nastally et al (2010) included some participants with a high BMI, which was not part of the aim in the present experiment. However, there is a need for relating knowledge about nutrition regarding carbohydrates, as in the present experiments with an arrangement of diets to reduce weight or for type 2 diabetes management as emphasized in other types of research (e.g., Foster, 2006;Tay et al, 2015).…”

“…Additionally, more than half of the participants made a healthier food choice after the training and testing. Nastally et al (2010) called for experiments with measurements of nutrition other than the caloric content of food items, such as carbohydrate levels of food items, which is also in accordance with the fact that several individuals are on a low-carb diet and may find that information more useful. Thus, it seems essential to determine whether conditional-discrimination training and testing for emergent relations with nutrition information about carbohydrates is as effective as shown in Nastally et al…”

“…Tessaro et al (2010) used a computer-based interactive intervention (Cookin' Up Health) to teach women from a rural district knowledge about nutrition. Nastally, Dixon, McKeel, and Fleming (2010) have argued that it is not clear what is the most efficient way to arrange procedures to increase knowledge about nutrition; strategies so far have included a variety of procedures, such as information about nutrition labels and food exposures. One such strategy that has been shown to be useful in teaching different skills in a variety of participants are procedures based on stimulusequivalence technology, known for more than 30 years.…”

“…Instead of manipulating food preferences, it is possible to teach participants the nutritional content of different food items. Nastally et al ( 2010 ) exposed six college students to different tasks, including assessment of the caloric content of different food items. The participants were exposed to pre- and posttests for food preferences, pre- and posttests for the caloric content of different food items and to conditional-discrimination training with pictures of the food items from the second pretest.…”