Thinking of food: The mental representation of healthy foods as unprepared

We find that people implicitly and explicitly represent healthy foods they categorize as healthy in their purest, least prepared forms but represent foods they categorize as unhealthy in their most prepared forms (e.g., a veggie patty is represented as frozen while a beef burger is represented in a bun with melted cheese and ready to eat). We find this effect across several studies using both image and word sorting measures in explicit tasks and implicit association tasks. The effect results from the perception of health and taste as two conflicting goals. Preparation (e.g., cooking, adding toppings) makes food more delicious, which creates categorization ambiguity. Hence, healthy food is thought of as unprepared. Indeed, individual differences in perceived health-taste goal conflict moderate the effect. Critically, the representation of healthy foods matters for food decisions. In an experiment that manipulated the descriptive language on a restaurant menu, emphasizing the preparation of foods increased participants' preference for healthy foods (with no improvement for unhealthy foods).

Multisensory Stimuli, Restorative Effect, and Satisfaction of Visits to Forest Recreation Destinations: A Case Study of the Jhihben National Forest Recreation Area in Taiwan

The perceived quality of the restorative environment of forest resources should be a key consideration for forest recreational areas in managing ecosystem services to provide health benefits to visitors. However, previous studies on utilizing forests as a resource for restorative services have rarely explored the simultaneous integration of on-site sensory experiences from a multisensory perspective or evaluated visitor satisfaction from a service-oriented standpoint. Therefore, this study aimed to understand the association among multisensory stimuli, perceived restorativeness, and satisfaction with visits to forest recreation areas and clarify the mediating role of perceived restorativeness in the relationship between multisensory stimuli and satisfaction. This study deployed a questionnaire and collected 458 valid responses from visitors to the Jhihben National Forest Recreation Area in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the study hypotheses. The results indicated that visual sensations, auditory sensations, olfactory sensations, and tactile sensations had significant positive effects on perceived restorativeness and satisfaction and that perceived restorativeness also had a significant positive effect on satisfaction. Perceived restorativeness played a partial mediating role in this causal model. This study verified the psychological model of the relationships among a natural setting's multisensory stimuli, perceived restorativeness, and satisfaction. In practice, the findings of this study offer guidance for forest recreation areas to develop strategies for ecological services, encompassing the establishment of restorative environmental management and visitor service management approaches.

Can visual language convey tactile experience? A study of the tactile compensation effect of visual language for online products

Introduction

There is a common phenomenon of tactile missing in online retail. How to realize consumer tactile compensation is a consensus problem in the field of e-commerce. More and more marketeers and scholars convey their ideas via visual display, but few researches have focused on the tactile compensatory effect of visual language.

Methods

Study 1 collected data from nearly 13,000 online purchases to analyze the impact of haptic cues on sales in real online shopping platforms; Study 2 used a experimental research method to design three experimental groups: hand haptic cue group vs. Object haptic cue group vs. control group (N = 165) to investigate whether the main effect of haptic cues and the dual mediating effect of mental simulation held. Study 3 also adopted a simulated experimental research approach to design a two-factor group: 2 (haptic cue: hand vs. object) × 2 (product type: tactile functional product vs. tactile experiential product) (N = 198). To further explore whether the moderating effect of product type holds based on Study 2.

Results

Therefore, based on the visualization theory and mental simulation theory, and through a second-hand data experiment and two simulated experiments, this study confirmed that visual language did have a compensation effect on tactile missing specifically. Haptic cues in metaphorical visual language can actively compensate for consumers' tactile loss, thus affecting the purchase intention. Mental simulation plays a mediating role in the tactile compensation effect. Product type has a moderating effect, and the use of hand (object) haptic cues in metaphorical visual language in tactile functional products (tactile experiential products) can lead to a more active purchase intention.

Discussion

This study not only enriches the theoretical research on the tactile compensation effect of visual language, but also provides valuable management enlightenment for e-commerce enterprises to improve the effectiveness of online product display and online sensory marketing strategies.

Effects of mental simulation of future waterpipe tobacco smoking on attitudes, perceived harms and intended use among young adults

The desire to engage in waterpipe tobacco smoking (WTS) may occur when smokers and nonsmokers conjure positive mental simulations of WTS. However, effects of these simulations on desire to smoke waterpipe tobacco and potential mediators are unexplored. This research addressed these effects among young adult waterpipe tobacco smokers and nonsmokers. Two online studies were conducted with adults ages 18-30. In Study 1, 200 smokers, 190 susceptible nonsmokers, and 182 nonsusceptible nonsmokers were randomized to mentally simulate or not WTS in the future. In Study 2, 234 smokers and 241 susceptible nonsmokers were randomized to four arms: no simulation or simulations that varied valence of experience (positive, negative or no valence provided). Main outcomes were immediate desire to smoke waterpipe tobacco, cognitive and affective attitudes, and perceived harms. In Study 1, mental simulations increased the desire to smoke waterpipe tobacco among smokers. In Study 2, asking participants to simulate WTS positively or with no valence instruction increased desire to smoke relative to negative valence instruction or no simulation. Negative simulations reduced perceived probability of smoking within a month compared to positive simulations. Effects on desire to engage in WTS were mediated by cognitive and affective attitudes among susceptible nonsmokers and by cognitive attitudes among smokers. These findings suggest that exploring when and how often mental simulations about WTS are evoked and their potency for promoting prevention and cessation of WTS merit further attention.

Situating desire: Situational cues affect desire for food through eating simulations

How do situations influence food desire? Although eating typically occurs in rich background situations, research on food desire often focuses on the properties of foods and consumers, rather than on the situations in which eating takes place. Here, we take a grounded cognition perspective and suggest that a situation that is congruent with consuming a food increases simulations of eating it, which, in turn, affect desire, and the expected and actual liking of the food. We tested this idea in four pre-registered experiments (N = 524). Participants processed an image of a food presented in a congruent situation, an incongruent situation, or no background situation. Compared to the incongruent situation, the congruent situation increased expected liking of the food and desire, and this was partially or fully mediated by eating simulations. The congruent situation also increased salivation, a physiological indicator of preparing to eat. However, there was only weak and indirect evidence for congruence effects on actual liking of the food when tasted. These findings show that situational cues can affect desire for food through eating simulations. Thus, background situations play an important but understudied role in human food desires. We address implications for research using food images, and for applications to promote healthy and sustainable eating behaviour.

"I know it's just pouring it from the tap, but it's not easy": Motivational processes that underlie water drinking

Water drinking behaviour is under-researched despite the prevalence and adverse health consequences of underhydration. We conducted a qualitative exploration into the motivational processes underlying water drinking, informed by a grounded cognition perspective on desire and motivated behaviour. We interviewed and analysed data from 60 participants stratified by age, gender, and education level using thematic analysis, to generate three key themes. "Water as situated habits," suggests that participants form and maintain situated water drinking habits, so that within certain situations they regularly drink water. However, participants who situated their water intake only in one key situation (e.g., work routine), had low and inconsistent intake when they left this situation. Some situations happened so infrequently during the day (e.g., before bed) that participants' daily water intake was low. Many participants reported drinking water in reaction to thirst cues, but these were easily suppressed or ignored, so that water drinking was inconsistent. Participants who saw drinking water as part of their self-identity had consistent and high water intake across a variety of situations. "Knowledge and attitudes," suggests that few participants had knowledge or attitudes that promoted water intake (e.g., perceived water as positive or understood the importance of hydration). "Strategies underlying attempts to increase intake" suggests that many participants lacked insight into strategies to increase water intake, although they spontaneously discussed attempts to drink more. This lead to ineffective attempts at behaviour change. Participants' mentions of dehydration and their responses to a urine colour chart suggested that many participants were possibly underhydrated. Our findings suggest that interventions and practitioners attempting to increase water intake need to increase knowledge about the importance of hydration, and encourage individuals to develop effective situated water drinking habits.

The Psychology of Desire and Implications for Healthy Hydration

This article discusses the cognitive mechanisms underlying the motivation to consume sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and outlines implications for developing healthy hydration habits. While the detrimental health consequences of consuming SSBs are well understood, the psychological processes underlying the motivation to consume them are understudied. To address this gap, the current article applies a grounded cognition theory of desire and motivated behaviour, which can be used as a framework to understand and potentially change the motivation for SSBs and healthier alternatives, such as water. The grounded cognition theory of desire argues that people represent foods and drinks through potentially rewarding simulations, or re-experiences, of consuming them. These simulations, in turn, can increase desire and motivated behaviour. In line with this theory, research on eating behaviour shows that people think about attractive food in terms of what it feels like to eat it and in terms of relevant eating situations and that these simulations predict the desire to eat. Similarly, emerging research on SSBs shows that people represent these beverages in terms of the sensory and rewarding experiences of drinking them, more so than water, and especially if they consume them often. These simulations, in turn, predict the desire for sugary drinks and actual consumption. This has implications for attempts to increase healthy hydration: in order to facilitate healthy choices, the immediate pleasure to be gained from consuming a healthy beverage should be emphasized, rather than its long-term benefits. Repeatedly facilitating healthy drink choices in similar situations can ultimately contribute to the development of healthy hydration habits.

Challenges and Opportunities for Grounding Cognition

According to the grounded perspective, cognition emerges from the interaction of classic cognitive processes with the modalities, the body, and the environment. Rather than being an autonomous impenetrable module, cognition incorporates these other domains intrinsically into its operation. The Situated Action Cycle offers one way of understanding how the modalities, the body, and the environment become integrated to ground cognition. Seven challenges and opportunities are raised for this perspective: (1) How does cognition emerge from the Situated Action Cycle and in turn support it? (2) How can we move beyond simply equating embodiment with action, additionally establishing how embodiment arises in the autonomic, neuroendocrine, immune, cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, and integumentary systems? (3) How can we better understand the mechanisms underlying multimodal simulation, its functions across the Situated Action Cycle, and its integration with other representational systems? (4) How can we develop and assess theoretical accounts of symbolic processing from the grounded perspective (perhaps using the construct of simulators)? (5) How can we move beyond the simplistic distinction between concrete and abstract concepts, instead addressing how concepts about the external and internal worlds pattern to support the Situated Action Cycle? (6) How do individual differences emerge from different populations of situational memories as the Situated Action Cycle manifests itself differently across individuals? (7) How can constructs from grounded cognition provide insight into the replication and generalization crises, perhaps from a quantum perspective on mechanisms (as exemplified by simulators).

Using consumption and reward simulations to increase the appeal of plant-based foods

The production of meat is a main contributor to current dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the shift to more plant-based diets is hampered by consumers finding meat-based foods more attractive than plant-based foods. How can plant-based foods best be described to increase their appeal to consumers? Based on the grounded cognition theory of desire, we suggest that descriptions that trigger simulations, or re-experiences, of eating and enjoying a food will increase the attractiveness of a food, compared to descriptions emphasizing ingredients. In Study 1, we first examined the descriptions of ready meals available in four large UK supermarkets (N = 240). We found that the labels of meat-based foods contained more references to eating simulations than vegetarian foods, and slightly more than plant-based foods, and that this varied between supermarkets. In Studies 2 and 3 (N = 170, N = 166, pre-registered), we manipulated the labels of plant-based and meat-based foods to either include eating simulation words or not. We assessed the degree to which participants reported that the description made them think about eating the food (i.e., induced eating simulations), and how attractive they found the food. In Study 2, where either sensory or eating context words were added, we found no differences with control labels. In Study 3, however, where simulation-based labels included sensory, context, and hedonic words, we found that simulation-based descriptions increased eating simulations and attractiveness. Moreover, frequent meat eaters found plant-based foods less attractive, but this was attenuated when plant-based foods were described with simulation-inducing words. We suggest that language that describes rewarding eating experiences can be used to facilitate the shift toward healthy and sustainable diets.

Pleasure or Health? The Role of Mental Simulation in Desire and Food Choices

Many times, desire possesses us and impedes us from making healthier food choices. From a grounded cognition perspective, we investigated the role of two types of mental simulation (process and outcome) in desire and food choice to understand the processes that modulate them and find strategies that encourage healthier food choices. In addition to these explicit measures, we used two implicit methods to measure approach-avoidance tendencies and visual attention. Our results showed that imagining the consumption of vice and virtue foods increased desire for the product imagined and seemed to favor the choice of a vice food. However, at an implicit level, the motivation to approach and avoid food products was neutral. Imagining the post-consumption of a vice food decreased desire for the imagined food and although it tempted people at an implicit level, it made people more prone to choose a virtue food. When a vice food was imagined, attentional bias increased for all types of food regardless of the simulation. When a virtue food was imagined, there was no effect on choice, motivation nor attentional bias. In conclusion, simply imagining certain foods is a potential solution for promoting healthier and thoughtful choices.

Understanding Desire for Food and Drink: A Grounded-Cognition Approach

How does desire for food and drink arise in the human mind? We suggest that rewarding simulations, which are based on previous experiences, play a key role. In other words, people think about food and drink in terms of what it feels like to consume them, and this leads to desire. We illustrate this with research using behavioral, physiological, and neuroimaging methods. This work shows that food and drink cues (e.g., words, eating contexts, labels) trigger spontaneous eating and drinking simulations (e.g., thoughts about taste, texture, and enjoyment) and that these simulations affect desire and eating experiences (e.g., cravings, salivation, taste ratings). These simulations can be disrupted or diffused through working memory load or through mindfulness, thus reducing desire. We discuss these findings in the context of simulations in motivated behavior more generally and suggest directions for future research.

Left-handers know what's left is right: Handedness and object affordance

We live in a right-hander's world. Although left-handers become accustomed to using right-handed devices, an underlying preference for objects that afford the dominant hand could remain. We employed eye tracking while left- and right-handed participants viewed advertisements for everyday products. Participants then rated aesthetic appeal, purchase intention, and perceived value. Left-handed participants found advertisements for products that more easily afforded them action to be more aesthetically appealing. They also indicated greater future purchase intention for products that were oriented towards the left hand, and gave these products a higher perceived value. Eye tracking data showed that object handles attracted attention, and were also able to retain participants' attention. Further, across multiple eye movement measures, our data show that participant eye movements were altered by the orientation of the handle, such that this side of the image was examined earlier and for longer, regardless of handedness. Left-handers' preferences might be stronger because they are more aware of object orientation, whereas right-handers do not experience the same difficulties. These findings highlight intrinsic differences in the way in which we perceive objects and our underlying judgments about those products, based on handedness.

Moderate eating with pleasure and without effort: Toward understanding the underlying psychological mechanisms

Integrating research on elementary eating behaviors, savoring, mental imagery, mindfulness, cooking, and dinner rituals, a psychological theory of moderate eating is formulated that does not require effortful self-control and giving up on the pleasures of eating. The theory proposes that taste and pleasure can be combined with a relatively objective attitude toward food, resulting in a relatively slow, gentle, and thoughtful manner of eating that enhances satiation. The objective food attitude is thought to result from (a) the accumulation of multiple sensorimotor expectancies and perspectives and (b) a motivational mechanism underlying prosocial behavior, food sharing, and aggression-inhibiting dinner rituals.

Advertising models in the act of eating: How the depiction of different eating phases affects consumption desire and behavior

In print advertising, the use of static pictures depicting models eating food is common practice. However, less is known about how the depiction of models in different phases of consumption (holding food, moving food to mouth, taking a bite, chewing on food) affects consumers. Theories have proposed that not only do individuals mimic actions, but they also adopt the goals and the motivational patterns underlying these actions by observing others. Building on this view, we hypothesized that consumers' desire to eat a food product and their actual consumption of a food product would be greater when the model in the picture was close to engaging in consumption and that desire and actual consumption would be reduced when the model was shown in the process of finishing consumption. In two studies, we found that the participants experienced an increased desire to eat the depicted food (Study 1) and ate more of the advertised food (Study 2) when the model was shown to engage in eating food compared with when the model was shown during completion of a consumption episode. In addition, the results of Study 1 suggest that even subtle differences such as holding food compared with putting food into the mouth might affect consumers' desire to eat. Overall, our results suggest that advertisements may affect consumers' motivation to engage in food intake differently depending on which consumption state they show with the depiction of a model close to engagement in food consumption being most likely to trigger a desire for consumption and an actual engagement in food intake.

The effect of a mindfulness-based decentering strategy on chocolate craving

According to the elaborated-intrusion theory of desire, strategies that load visual working memory will reduce cravings. According to the grounded cognition theory of desire, cravings will be reduced with mindfulness-based decentering strategies that encourage individuals to see their thoughts as thoughts. However, decentering strategies also tend to load visual working memory making it difficult to test the latter prediction. This study addressed this issue by matching visualization across decentering and guided imagery tasks. Male and female participants (n = 101) underwent a chocolate craving induction before listening to a 4-min audio recording that guided them to (a) decenter from their thoughts and feelings, (b) engage in visualization, or (c) let their mind wander. Participants reported on chocolate craving before and after the craving induction and following the 4-min recording. They also provided retrospective reports of craving during the recording, reported on the extent to which they had adhered to the audio instructions and briefly indicated what they had been thinking about during the recording. Results showed a significant reduction in cravings to baseline following the recording across all three conditions (p < .001), but no significant differences between conditions or in the retrospective reports of craving. There was some evidence to suggest that participants in the mind wandering condition had been thinking about alternate goals, which may have inhibited thoughts about chocolate and been just as effective at reducing craving as the imagery and decentering strategies. Exploratory analyses showed a trend toward decentering being more effective than imagery where participants reported higher task adherence throughout the 4 min (p = .067). This raises the possibility that decentering effects may be improved with better strategy adherence, which might be achieved through practice or increased motivation.

Studying human eating behaviour in the laboratory: Theoretical considerations and practical suggestions

Robinson and colleagues (2018) make important first steps in highlighting the shortcomings of laboratory studies of human eating behaviour, and providing some general suggestions to increase methodological and reporting quality. In this commentary, we present additional important theoretical considerations and practical suggestions. First, we discuss the role of situational cues in eating behaviour and highlight the implications for designing ecologically valid laboratory experiments. Next, we discuss food intake in laboratory settings in the context of the distinction between implicit and explicit measures used widely in social psychology, and provide practical recommendations to keep intake a relatively implicit measure. Finally, we recognise that designing optimal experiments requires significant resources so we present a practical procedure to recruit the smallest informative sample via Bayesian sequential hypothesis testing.

Taste at first (person) sight: Visual perspective modulates brain activity implicitly associated with viewing unhealthy but not healthy foods

Every day, people are exposed to images of appetizing foods that can lead to high-calorie intake and contribute to overweight and obesity. Research has documented that manipulating the visual perspective from which eating is viewed helps resist temptation by altering the appraisal of unhealthy foods. However, the neural basis of this effect has not yet been examined using neuroimaging methods. Moreover, it is not known whether the benefits of this strategy can be observed when people, especially overweight, are not explicitly asked to imagine themselves eating. Last, it remains to be investigated if visual perspective could be used to promote healthy foods. The present work manipulated camera angles and tested whether visual perspective modulates activity in brain regions associated with taste and reward processing while participants watch videos featuring a hand grasping (unhealthy or healthy) foods from a plate during functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI). The plate was filmed from the perspective of the participant (first-person perspective; 1PP), or from a frontal view as if watching someone else eating (third-person perspective; 3PP). Our findings reveal that merely viewing unhealthy food cues from a 1PP (vs. 3PP) increases activity in brain regions that underlie representations of rewarding (appetitive) experiences (amygdala) and food intake (superior parietal gyrus). Additionally, our results show that ventral striatal activity is positively correlated with body mass index (BMI) during exposure to unhealthy foods from a 1PP (vs. 3PP). These findings suggest that unhealthy foods should be promoted through third-person (video) images to weaken the reward associated with their simulated consumption, especially amongst overweight people. It appears however that, as such, manipulating visual perspective fails to enhance the perception of healthy foods. Their promotion thus requires complementary solutions.