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Updated: Mar 19, 2026
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Errors as a Means of Reducing Impulsive Food Choice
Published on: June 5, 2016
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Errors as a Means of Reducing Impulsive Food Choice
Manuela Sellitto1, Giuseppe di Pellegrino2
1Department of Biological Psychology, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen; Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna; manuela.sellitto3@unibo.it.
Journal of Visualized Experiments : Jove
|June 25, 2016
Summary
This study shows that associating food choices with a higher likelihood of errors can reduce impulsive eating in women. This cognitive control strategy helps decrease the preference for immediate rewards, aiding in weight management.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Increasing obesity and eating disorders are linked to poor self-control and impulsive food choices.
- Cognitive control, the ability to inhibit automatic responses, is crucial for decision-making, especially when errors are probable.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if associating appetitive food stimuli with error likelihood can reduce imprudent food preferences in women.
- To explore the role of cognitive control in mitigating impatient choices for edible rewards.
Main Methods:
- Participants completed an error task, linking edible stimuli to high or low error probabilities.
- Subsequent intertemporal choice tasks assessed preferences for the cued edible stimuli.
Main Results:
- The protocol significantly decreased the discount rate for future rewards associated with higher error likelihood.
- This effect was modulated by self-reported hunger levels, indicating a context-dependent influence.
Conclusions:
- Errors, as salient events, can effectively recruit cognitive control mechanisms.
- This strategy can be leveraged to reduce impatient choices for palatable food commodities, potentially aiding in weight management and reducing eating disorder risks.
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