scholarly journals The effect of personal relative deprivation on food choice: An experimental approach

PLoS ONE ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. e0261317
Author(s):  
Sofie van Rongen ◽  
Michel Handgraaf ◽  
Maaike Benoist ◽  
Emely de Vet
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Factors ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Food Choice ◽  
Relative Deprivation ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Palatable Food ◽  
Relative Disadvantage ◽  
Main Effect

Growing evidence suggests that relative disadvantage is more relevant than absolute socioeconomic factors in explaining disparities in healthfulness of diet. In a series of pre-registered experiments, we tested whether personal relative deprivation (PRD), i.e. the sense that one is unfairly deprived of a deserved outcome relative to others, results in choosing more palatable, rewarding foods. Study 1 (N = 102) demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of a game for inducing real-time experiences of PRD. Study 2 (N = 287) showed no main effect of PRD condition on hypothetical food choices, but an interaction between chronic PRD and condition revealed that those in the PRD condition chose more rewarding foods when feeling chronically deprived. In Study 3 (N = 260) the hypothesized main effect was found on real, non-hypothetical food choices: those in the PRD condition chose more rewarding foods, controlling for sensitivity to palatable food. Our results provide preliminary indications that the experience of being relatively deprived, rather than the objective amount or resources, may result in a higher preference for high-caloric and palatable foods. It may be suggested that efforts to reduce societal disparities in healthfulness of diet may need to focus on perceptions of injustice beyond objective inequalities.

scholarly journals Food Preferences and Food Choice Determinants in a Polish Adolescents’ COVID-19 Experience (PLACE-19) Study

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 2491
Author(s):  
Dominika Głąbska ◽  
Dominika Skolmowska ◽  
Dominika Guzek
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Food Choice ◽  
Food Preference ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Population Based ◽  
School Students ◽  
High Preference ◽  
Quota Sampling ◽  
Food Choice Motives

Food preferences are within the most important determinants of food choices; however, little is known about their complex associations, and no studies were conducted in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study was to analyze the association between food preferences and food choice determinants in adolescents aged 15–20 years within the Polish Adolescents’ COVID-19 Experience (PLACE-19) Study. The PLACE-19 Study included a random quota sampling conducted in the whole of Poland and covered a population-based sample of 2448 secondary school students. The food preferences were assessed using a validated Food Preference Questionnaire (FPQ), and the food choices were assessed using a validated Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ). The statistical analysis comprised k-means clustering and linear regression adjusted for sex and age. Four homogenous clusters of respondents were defined based on the food choice motives—“healthy eaters” (health as the most important determinant of food choices), “hedonists” (convenience, sensory appeal, and price as the most important determinants), “indifferent consumers” (low significance for all determinants), and “demanding consumers” (high significance for all determinants). The preferences for all food categories differed when comparing between clusters presenting various food choice determinants (p < 0.001). The “healthy eaters” were characterized by the highest preference for vegetables; the “hedonists” preferred meat/fish, dairy, and snacks; the “demanding consumers” had a high preference for all food categories, while “indifferent consumers” had a low preference for all food categories. All preference scores were positively associated with mood, convenience, sensory appeal, natural content, and price (p < 0.05). The results confirmed the association between food preferences and food choice determinants in adolescents, as well as allowed adolescents to be clustered into segments to define various needs and motives among the identified segments. For public health purposes, it may be crucial to educate “hedonists,” with a high preference for meat/fish, dairy and snacks, accompanied by convenience, sensory appeal, and price as the most important determinants of their food choices.

scholarly journals A neuronal ensemble encoding adaptive choice during sensory conflict in Drosophila

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Preeti F. Sareen ◽  
Li Yan McCurdy ◽  
Michael N. Nitabach
Keyword(s):  
Food Choice ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Sensory Conflict ◽  
Shaped Body ◽  
Motor Circuits ◽  
Specific Subset ◽  
Adaptive Choice

AbstractFeeding decisions are fundamental to survival, and decision making is often disrupted in disease. Here, we show that neural activity in a small population of neurons projecting to the fan-shaped body higher-order central brain region of Drosophila represents food choice during sensory conflict. We found that food deprived flies made tradeoffs between appetitive and aversive values of food. We identified an upstream neuropeptidergic and dopaminergic network that relays internal state and other decision-relevant information to a specific subset of fan-shaped body neurons. These neurons were strongly inhibited by the taste of the rejected food choice, suggesting that they encode behavioral food choice. Our findings reveal that fan-shaped body taste responses to food choices are determined not only by taste quality, but also by previous experience (including choice outcome) and hunger state, which are integrated in the fan-shaped body to encode the decision before relay to downstream motor circuits for behavioral implementation.

scholarly journals Perceptual salience influences food choices independently of health and taste preferences

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Dai ◽  
Jeremy Cone ◽  
Jeff Moher
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Healthy Eating ◽  
Food Choice ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Taste Preference ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Perceptual Salience ◽  
Choice Tests

Abstract Background Making decisions about food is a critical part of everyday life and a principal concern for a number of public health issues. Yet, the mechanisms involved in how people decide what to eat are not yet fully understood. Here, we examined the role of visual attention in healthy eating intentions and choices. We conducted two-alternative forced choice tests of competing food stimuli that paired healthy and unhealthy foods that varied in taste preference. We manipulated their perceptual salience such that, in some cases, one food item was more perceptually salient than the other. In addition, we manipulated the cognitive load and time pressure to test the generalizability of the salience effect. Results Manipulating salience had a powerful effect on choice in all situations; even when an unhealthy but tastier food was presented as an alternative, healthy food options were selected more often when they were perceptually salient. Moreover, in a second experiment, food choices on one trial impacted food choices on subsequent trials; when a participant chose the healthy option, they were more likely to choose a healthy option again on the next trial. Furthermore, robust effects of salience on food choice were observed across situations of high cognitive load and time pressure. Conclusions These results have implications both for understanding the mechanisms of food-related decision-making and for implementing interventions that might make it easier for people to make healthy eating choices.

scholarly journals Healthy decisions in the cued-attribute food choice paradigm have high test-retest reliability

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Barakchian ◽  
Anjali Raja Beharelle ◽  
Todd A. Hare
Keyword(s):  
Food Choice ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Retest Reliability ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Food Items ◽  
Intervention Efficacy ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Test Retest Reliability ◽  
Decision Mechanisms ◽  
High Test

AbstractFood choice paradigms are commonly used to study decision mechanisms, individual differences, and intervention efficacy. Here, we measured behavior from twenty-three healthy young adults who completed five repetitions of a cued-attribute food choice paradigm over two weeks. This task includes cues prompting participants to explicitly consider the healthiness of the food items before making a selection, or to choose naturally based on whatever freely comes to mind. We found that the average patterns of food choices following both cue types and ratings about the palatability (i.e. taste) and healthiness of the food items were similar across all five repetitions. At the individual level, the test-retest reliability for choices in both conditions and healthiness ratings was excellent. However, test-retest reliability for taste ratings was only fair, suggesting that estimates about palatability may vary more from day to day for the same individual.

scholarly journals Perseverative Cognition and Snack Choice: An Online Pilot Investigation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Timothy M. Eschle ◽  
Dane McCarrick
Keyword(s):  
Food Choice ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Risk Behaviours ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Perseverative Cognition ◽  
Pilot Investigation ◽  
Perseverative Thinking ◽  
Snack Consumption ◽  
Unhealthy Snacks

Perseverative cognition (PC), consisting of worry and rumination, has been consistently linked to a variety of poorer health outcomes, namely via the worsening of stress-induced health risk behaviours. However, research into PC and unhealthy food choice, a key health behaviour, still remains relatively unexplored. In the current pilot investigation, 284 participants were recruited to take part in an online food choice paradigm before completing the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ) and the Brief State Rumination Inventory (BSRI). As a reduced availability of unhealthy snacks has been shown to improve snack choice, participants were randomly allocated to either an even condition (a 3:3 ratio of ≤99 kcal and ≥199 kcal snacks) or an uneven condition (a 4:2 ratio in favour of ≤99 kcal snacks). It was hypothesized that higher levels of PC may predict greater instances of poorer snack choices across, or even within, this paradigm. Despite an increase availability of lower calorie snacks leading to a healthier snack choice, both state and trait PC measures did not significantly influence snack choice irrespective of this varying availability. Although, marginal trends were found for higher state PC and higher calorie crisp selections. The current pilot therefore adds to the growing literature advocating for the use of behavioural economic tactics to engender healthier food choices, yet further work is needed to unpick the mediating role of PC (and its components) in snack consumption paradigms.

scholarly journals Understanding socio-economic inequalities in food choice behaviour: can Maslow's pyramid help?

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (7) ◽  
pp. 1139-1147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank J. van Lenthe ◽  
Tessa Jansen ◽  
Carlijn B. M. Kamphuis
Keyword(s):  
Food Choice ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Healthy Food ◽  
Hierarchy Of Needs ◽  
Choice Behaviour ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Education Group ◽  
Dairy Consumption ◽  
Economic Inequalities

Socio-economic groups differ in their material, living, working and social circumstances, which may result in different priorities about their daily-life needs, including the priority to make healthy food choices. Following Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, we hypothesised that socio-economic inequalities in healthy food choices can be explained by differences in the levels of need fulfilment. Postal survey data collected in 2011 (67·2 % response) from 2903 participants aged 20–75 years in the Dutch GLOBE (Gezondheid en Levens Omstandigheden Bevolking Eindhoven en omstreken) study were analysed. Maslow's hierarchy of human needs (measured with the Basic Need Satisfaction Inventory) was added to age- and sex-adjusted linear regression models that linked education and net household income levels to healthy food choices (measured by a FFQ). Most participants (38·6 %) were in the self-actualisation layer of the pyramid. This proportion was highest among the highest education group (47·6 %). Being in a higher level of the hierarchy was associated with a higher consumption of fruits and vegetables as well as more healthy than unhealthy bread, snack and dairy consumption. Educational inequalities in fruit and vegetable intake (B= − 1·79, 95 % CI − 2·31, − 1·28 in the lowest education group) were most reduced after the hierarchy of needs score was included (B= − 1·57, 95 % CI − 2·09, − 1·05). Inequalities in other healthy food choices hardly changed after the hierarchy of needs score was included. People who are satisfied with higher-level needs make healthier food choices. Studies aimed at understanding socio-economic inequalities in food choice behaviour need to take differences in the priority given to daily-life needs by different socio-economic groups into account, but Maslow's pyramid offers little help.

scholarly journals Body Size Preferences and Food Choice Among Normal and Overweight Mothers and Children in Malawi (P10-070-19)

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Flax ◽  
Chrissie Thakwalakwa ◽  
Lindsay Jaacks ◽  
John Phuka
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Food Choice ◽  
Weight Status ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Normal Weight ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Overweight Child ◽  
Mothers And Children ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Healthy Body

Abstract Objectives Overweight in mothers and children in sub-Saharan Africa is rapidly increasing and may be related to body size preferences. The objective of this study was to measure mothers’ preferences for their own and their child's body size and how they relate to food choices. Methods We enrolled 271 mothers and their children (6–59 months) in Lilongwe and Kasungu Districts. Based on standard body-mass index and weight-for-height z-score cutoffs, 78 mothers (29%) were normal weight and 193 (71%) were overweight; 120 children (44%) were normal weight and 151 (56%) were overweight. Interviewers used a set of 7 adult female and 7 child body silhouette drawings and a semi-structured question guide to measure mothers’ perceptions of their own and their child's preferred and healthy body sizes and how their preferences affected food choices. We performed chi-squared tests comparing body size perceptions and grouped open-ended responses by weight status. Results Mothers’ selection of silhouettes that represented their body size preferences (67% normal weight, 68% overweight preferred overweight) and perceptions of a healthy body size (96% normal weight, 94% overweight selected overweight as healthy) did not differ by their weight status. A higher percentage of mothers of overweight than normal weight children preferred overweight child body sizes (70% vs. 48%, P = 0.003). Mothers’ perceptions of a healthy child body size (89% normal weight, 94% overweight selected overweight as healthy) did not differ by the child's weight status. To attain a larger body size, mothers said they could eat or feed the child larger quantities or more frequently and increase consumption of fatty/oily foods and drinks (such as sodas, sweetened yoghurt, and milk), but many cannot afford to do this. Conclusions Malawian mothers had strong preferences for overweight body sizes for themselves and mixed preferences for their children. Their desired strategies for increasing weight indicate that body size preferences may drive food choice but could be limited by cost. Funding Sources Drivers of Food Choice (DFC) Competitive Grants Program, funded by the UK Government's Department for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and managed by the University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health.

scholarly journals A Dual-Pathway Perspective on Food Choices in Adolescents: The Role of Loss of Control Over Eating

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Van Malderen ◽  
Eva Kemps ◽  
Laurence Claes ◽  
Sandra Verbeken ◽  
Lien Goossens
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Food Choice ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Unhealthy Food ◽  
Loss Of Control ◽  
Dual Pathway ◽  
Joint Contribution

IntroductionOne in three adolescents frequently consume unhealthy snacks, which is associated with negative developmental outcomes. To date, it remains unclear how intrapersonal factors account for food choices in adolescents. Guided by the dual-pathway model, the current study aimed to: (1) examine the joint contribution of inhibitory control and attentional bias in predicting unhealthy food choices in adolescents, and (2) determine whether this mechanism is more pronounced in adolescents who experience loss of control over eating (LOC).Materials and MethodsA community sample of 80 adolescents (65% female; 10–17 years old, Mage = 13.28, SD = 1.94) was recruited. Based on a self-report questionnaire, 28.7% of this sample reported at least one episode of LOC over the past month. Food choice was assessed using a computerized food choice task. Both inhibitory control and attentional bias were measured with behavioral tasks (go/no-go and dot probe task, respectively). Binary logistic regressions were conducted to address the research questions.ResultsInhibitory control and attentional bias did not significantly interact to predict unhealthy food choices. However, there was a significant three-way interaction between inhibitory control, attentional bias and LOC. For adolescents without LOC, the combination of poor inhibitory control and low attentional bias was significantly associated with unhealthy food choice. Surprisingly, for adolescents with LOC, there was no significant association between unhealthy food choice and inhibitory control or attentional bias.DiscussionDual-pathway processes do not seem to add to the explanation of food choice behavior for adolescents with LOC. For adolescents who do not experience LOC, those with poor inhibitory control combined with low attentional bias might be at particular risk for making unhealthy food choices.

The Confluence Between Materiality and Immateriality in Site-Specific Sound and Visual Performances

2020 ◽  
pp. 64-96
Author(s):  
Frederico Dinis
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Electronic Music ◽  
Aesthetic Experience ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Visual Performance ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Visual Narratives ◽  
Field Recordings ◽  
The Past

Aiming to explore the diverse nature of sound and image, thereby establishing a bridge with the symbiotic creation of sensations and emotions, this chapter intends to present the development and the construction of a proposal for the confluence between materiality and immateriality in site-specific sound and visual performances. Using as a focal point sound and visual narratives, the author tries to look beyond space and time and create a representative atmosphere of sense of place, attempting to understand the past and sketching new configurations for the (re)presentation of identity, guiding the audience through a journey of perceptual experiences, using field recordings, ambient electronic music, and videos. This chapter also presents the development of an experimental approach, based on a real-time sound and visual performance, and some critical forms of expression and communication that relate or incorporate sound and image, articulating concerns about their aesthetic experience and communicative functionality.

scholarly journals Do Europeans consider sustainability when making food choices? A survey of Polish city-dwellers

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krystyna Rejman ◽  
Joanna Kaczorowska ◽  
Ewa Halicka ◽  
Wacław Laskowski
Keyword(s):  
Food Choice ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Random Group ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Sustainable Diet ◽  
Quota Sampling

AbstractObjectiveTo obtain a better insight into the conceptualization of sustainable consumption among consumers with special focus on food choice determinants. Previous studies show that people present positive attitude towards sustainable diet while their everyday food choices do not follow sustainable diet rules.DesignA structured questionnaire was designed and data were collected via computer-assisted telephone interview among a random group (n 600) of city-dwellers. Quota sampling was used in proportion to the city population. Cluster analysis (k-means method) was applied to identify consumer segments according to the determinants of food choices. Consumer segments were identified using one-way ANOVA with post hoc Duncan comparison of mean scores and cross-tabulation with χ 2. The Friedman test was applied to identify enablers and barriers of sustainable food choices.SettingCities in Mazovia, the best developed, central region of Poland.ParticipantsAdults (21–70 years old).ResultsConsumers are not familiar with the concept of sustainability and are not able to define it adequately. Only 6 % of the studied population indicated that sustainable consumption is connected with nutrition which has possibly less impact on the environment. Three segments of consumers were distinguished regarding their attitude to food choice determinants adequate to sustainable diet: Non-Adopters (17 %), Emergents (32 %), Adopters (51 %). Desire to improve health by decreasing body weight was the main driver for sustainable food choices, while prices were the main limitation.ConclusionsKnowledge dissemination on sustainability issues is needed to empower consumers to make more sustainable food choices and to make public health and food policy measures more effective.

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