ERIC Number: EJ766283
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Jun
Pages: 10
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1076-898X
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Available Date: N/A
Modality-Specific Imagery Reduces Cravings for Food: An Application of the Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desire to Food Craving
Kemps, Eva; Tiggemann, Marika
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, v13 n2 p95-104 Jun 2007
Based on converging evidence that visual and olfactory images are key components of food cravings, the authors tested a central prediction of the elaborated intrusion theory of desire, that mutual competition between modality-specific tasks and desire-related imagery can suppress such cravings. In each of Experiments 1 and 2, 90 undergraduate women underwent an imaginal food craving induction protocol and then completed either a visual, auditory, or olfactory imagery task. As predicted, the visual and olfactory imagery tasks were superior to the auditory imagery task in reducing participants' craving for food in general (Experiment 1) and for chocolate in particular (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 replicated these findings in a sample of 96 women using a nonimagery craving induction procedure involving a combination of chocolate deprivation and exposure to chocolate cues. Thus, imagery techniques in the visual or olfactory domain hold promise for treating problematic cravings in disordered eating populations.
Descriptors: Cues, Females, Visual Stimuli, Sensory Experience, Eating Habits, Food, Hypothesis Testing, Competition, Imagery, Undergraduate Students, Auditory Stimuli, Prediction, Eating Disorders, Stimuli, Behavior Modification, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A