scholarly journals The Effects of Positive Affect and Episodic Future Thinking on Temporal Discounting and Healthy Food Demand and Choice Among Overweight and Obese Individuals: Protocol for a Pilot 2×2 Factorial Randomized Controlled Study

10.2196/12265 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. e12265
Author(s):  
Sara M Levens ◽  
Sara J Sagui-Henson ◽  
Meagan Padro ◽  
Laura E Martin ◽  
Elisa M Trucco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Positive Affect ◽  
Temporal Discounting ◽  
Healthy Food ◽  
Randomized Controlled Study ◽  
Food Demand ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Episodic Future Thinking ◽  
Future Thinking ◽  
Randomized Controlled

scholarly journals The Effects of Positive Affect and Episodic Future Thinking on Temporal Discounting and Healthy Food Demand and Choice Among Overweight and Obese Individuals: Protocol for a Pilot 2×2 Factorial Randomized Controlled Study (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara M Levens ◽  
Sara J Sagui-Henson ◽  
Meagan Padro ◽  
Laura E Martin ◽  
Elisa M Trucco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Choice ◽  
Guided Imagery ◽  
Temporal Discounting ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Healthy Food ◽  
Food Demand ◽  
Episodic Future Thinking ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Reward Mechanisms ◽  
Choice Tasks

BACKGROUND Unhealthy behaviors (eg, poor food choices) contribute to obesity and numerous negative health outcomes, including multiple types of cancer and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. To promote healthy food choice, diet interventions should build on the dual-system model to target the regulation and reward mechanisms that guide eating behavior. Episodic future thinking (EFT) has been shown to strengthen regulation mechanisms by reducing unhealthy food choice and temporal discounting (TD), a process of placing greater value on smaller immediate rewards over larger future rewards. However, these interventions do not target the reward mechanisms that could support healthy eating and strengthen the impact of EFT-anchored programs. Increasing positive affect (PosA) related to healthy food choices may target reward mechanisms by enhancing the rewarding effects of healthy eating. An intervention that increases self-regulation regarding unhealthy foods and the reward value of healthy foods will likely have a greater impact on eating behavior compared with interventions focused on either process alone. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to introduce a protocol that tests the independent and interactive effects of EFT and PosA on TD, food choice, and food demand in overweight and obese adults. METHODS This protocol describes a factorial, randomized, controlled pilot study that employs a 2 (affective imagery: positive, neutral) by 2 (EFT: yes, no) design in which participants are randomized to 1 of 4 guided imagery intervention arms. In total, 156 eligible participants will complete 2 lab visits separated by 5 days. At visit 1, participants complete surveys; listen to the audio guided imagery intervention; and complete TD, food demand, and food choice tasks. At visit 2, participants complete TD, food demand, and food choice tasks and surveys. Participants complete a daily food frequency questionnaire between visits 1 and 2. Analyses will compare primary outcome measures at baseline, postintervention, and at follow-up across treatment arms. RESULTS Funding notification was received on April 27, 2017, and the protocol was approved by the institutional review board on October 6, 2017. Feasibility testing of the protocol was conducted from February 21, 2018, to April 18, 2018, among the first 32 participants. As no major protocol changes were required at the end of the feasibility phase, these 32 participants were included in the target sample of 156 participants. Recruitment, therefore, continued immediately after the feasibility phase. When this manuscript was submitted, 84 participants had completed the protocol. CONCLUSIONS Our research goal is to develop novel, theory-based interventions to promote and improve healthy decision-making and behaviors. The findings will advance decision-making research and have the potential to generate new neuroscience and psychological research to further understand these mechanisms and their interactions. CLINICALTRIAL ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN11704675; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN11704675 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/760ouOoKG) INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPOR DERR1-10.2196/12265

Foreign language learning in older age does not improve memory or intelligence: Evidence from a randomized controlled study.

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-219
Author(s):  
Rasmus Berggren ◽  
Jonna Nilsson ◽  
Yvonne Brehmer ◽  
Florian Schmiedek ◽  
Martin Lövdén
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Older Age ◽  
Randomized Controlled Study ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Randomized Controlled
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