Examining Cognitive Bias Modification interventions for reducing food value and choice: Two pre-registered, online studies.

Examining Cognitive Bias Modification interventions for reducing food value and choice: Two pre-registered, online studies. Appetite. 2020 Dec 03;:105063 Authors: Masterton S, Hardman CA, Halford JCG, Jones A Abstract There is considerable interest in Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) as a potential treatment for overweight/obesity. Inhibitory Control Training (ICT: also known as motor response training) and Evaluative Conditioning (EC) are two popular paradigms which rely on associatively learned responses (unhealthy food -> inhibition, or unhealthy food-> negative stimulus, respectively) through repeated cue-response contingencies. Both ICT and EC have demonstrated some effectiveness for reducing food intake, value and/or choice, when administered in the laboratory and online. However, studies have been criticised for inconsistencies in design (e.g. use of inadequate control groups) which makes it difficult to draw robust conclusions. In two pre-registered, online studies our aim was to examine active ICT (study 1: N = 170) and EC (study 2: N = 300) in multiple groups where the cue-> response contingencies were systematically varied (100%, 75%, 50%, 25%), before examining food-cue valuations and hypothetical food choice. In both studies varying the cue-> response contingencies did not lead to significant changes in food-cue devaluation following training. ICT did not substantially influence hypothetical food choice, whe...
Source: Appetite - Category: Nutrition Authors: Tags: Appetite Source Type: research