Elsevier

Appetite

Volume 41, Issue 1, August 2003, Pages 7-13
Appetite

Research Report
The specificity of restrained versus unrestrained eaters' responses to food cues: general desire to eat, or craving for the cued food?

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-6663(03)00026-6Get rights and content

Abstract

Previous research has shown that exposure to food cues increases eating, especially in restrained eaters. The present study attempted to determine whether this elevated consumption reflects a general desire to eat in response to food cues, or specific desire/craving for the cued food. Restrained and unrestrained eaters were exposed to the smell of either pizza, cookies, or no smell for 10 minutes, were asked to write their thoughts (corresponding to the smell cue) about pizza, cookies or in general, and were then presented with either pizza or cookies to ‘taste and rate’. Results indicated that restrained eaters are more responsive than are unrestrained eaters to pre-eating exposure to smell and thought cues, eating significantly more after such cues. An interaction with food type, however, indicated that restrained eaters ate more only when the food presented to eat was the same as the prior food cues. Self-reported desire to eat, liking, and craving for a particular food increased somewhat for restrained eaters after exposure to the smell and thought of that food. Restrained eaters' intake of a food that differed from the pre-eating food cues did not differ from their intake following no prior exposure to food cues. Restrained eaters thus showed a highly specific response to exposure to food cues.

Section snippets

Method

Participants. Participants were 132 female first year psychology undergraduate students, aged 17–47 years (M=21.2, SD=2.2). Participants received course credit for introductory psychology, and gave their written consent to participate in a study of food preferences. The 10-item Revised Restraint Scale (Polivy, Herman, & Howard, 1988) was used to divide participants into restrained (n=60)and unrestrained (n=72) eaters. The restraint scores ranged from 5 to 28. All subjects were classified as

Results

The data were analyzed by 3×2×2 ANOVAs. When significant main or interaction effects were found, post-hoc Newman–Keuls tests were performed to determine which means differed significantly. All differences between means presented below are supported by (p<0.05) significant Newman–Keuls post-hoc tests, unless otherwise stated.

Discussion

As in Fedoroff et al. (1997), restrained eaters in the present study ate more following exposure to food cues, for both the same food used by Fedoroff et al. (pizza) and a different food (cookies). These results replicate the enhanced response of restrained eaters to food cues found by Fedoroff et al. and extends this finding. As predicted, restrained eaters showed cue specificity, eating more only when they had previously been cued with that food. If they had not been cued with the food before

Acknowledgements

This research comprised part of the requirements for a PhD degree for the first author. Support was provided by a SSHRC grant to JP and CPH. Address correspondence to Ingrid C. Fedoroff, Department of Psychiatry, St Paul's Hospital, 1081 Burrard St, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 1Y6.

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