Imagining Consumption of Food Reduces Actual Consumption, Study

Overeating is a common behavior in our American culture today, especially during celebratory occasions such as the holidays. The findings of a new research study, however suggest that you can combat overeating by utilizing your imagination.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, which included Carey Morewedge, Ph.D. and an assistant professor of decision and social sciences, examined how imagining the consumption of a specific food would effect one's actual consumption of that food. The research team also included Dr. Joachim Vosgerau, who is an assistant professor of marketing.

A series of experiments was conducted in order to determine if imaging consuming a food would reduce the subsequent actual consumption of food. For instance, in one experiment, participants were split into three groups and were asked to do three different things. The control group was asked to imagine inserting 33 quarters into a laundry machine, one at a time. The researchers assert inserting quarters into a laundry machine is similar to the act of eating M&Ms. A second group of participants was asked to imagine inserting 30 quarters into a laundry machine and then to imagine eating three M&Ms. Finally, a third group of participants was instructed to imagine inserting three quarters into the machine and then to imagine consuming 30 M&Ms.

After the imagination exercises, all participants were allowed to eat freely from a bowl of M&Ms. The researchers discovered that those participants who imagined consuming 30 M&Ms actually ate significantly fewer M&Ms than did participants who imagined consuming three or zero M&Ms.

Other experiments in this series indicated that participants did not consume less food when they imagined consuming a different kind of food than they were actually given nor when they simply thought about food. Furthermore, the researchers were able to determine that imaging consuming a food reduced the actual consumption of that food due to the process of habituation rather than any other psychological process. Habituation refers to the participants' gradual decrease in motivation to eat more of the food.

Vosgerau asserted, "Our findings show that habituation is not only governed by the sensory inputs of sight, smell, sound, and touch, but also by how the consumption experience is mentally represented. To some extent, merely imagining an experience is a substitute for actual experience. The difference between imagining and experiencing may be smaller than previously assumed." Furthermore, Morewedge suggests, "These findings suggest that trying to suppress one's thoughts of desired foods in order to curb cravings for those foods is a fundamentally flawed strategy."

While more research will need to be conducted in order to confirm these results, it appears that imagining consuming a specific food reduces the actual subsequent consumption of that food. This type of research may lead to new ways of treat compulsive overeating and other addictive behaviors. If you would like to read more about this study, you may check out the journal Science where it is published.

Source:

Psych Central: Imagining Eating Reduces Actual Consumption:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/12/13/imagining-eating-reduces-actual-consumption/21760.html