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PSYCHIATRY
OPINION ARTICLE
published: 07 April 2015
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00048
Mental imagery and food consumption
Benjamin Missbach1*, Arnd Florack 2and Jürgen König1
1Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Vienna,Vienna, Austria
2Department of Psychology, University of Vienna,Vienna, Austria
*Correspondence: benjamin.missbach@univie.ac.at
Edited by:
David G. Pearson, University of Aberdeen, UK
Reviewed by:
Eva Kemps, Flinders University, Australia
Keywords: mental imagery, habituation, satiation, depletion, mindfulness
INTRODUCTION
One enigmatic capacity of human expe-
rience is the ability to travel back and
forth in time by using mental simula-
tions. By imagining shapes, forms, and
scenes, humans can relive the past and
visualize future events (1,2). Histori-
cally, this memory-based mechanism has
been discussed in scientific and non-
scientific fields. As described by Marcel
Proust in his epic work, In Search of
Lost Time (3), the sensory experience of
gustatory cues, in this case, a sponge-
cake called Madeleine, seems to be pow-
erful enough to trigger a cascade of vivid
intrusions associated with a particular
set of memories (4). Besides anecdotal
references, visual mental images are of
great interest in the domain of eating
behavior because research has shown that
(involuntary) mental simulations of intru-
sions and (voluntary) repetitive mental
imagery influence eating behavior. Unrav-
eling the basic mechanisms that under-
lie mental imagery in the food domain
has the potential to provide new insights
into the perception and consumption
of food.
In this opinion article, we briefly
report on the role of mental imagery
simulations in eating behavior and its
associated pathologies and illustrate how
research on mental imaginary has con-
tributed to the current understanding of
the cognitive aspects of food intake reg-
ulation and satiation processes. Further-
more, we discuss whether guided mental
imagery intervention strategies can be inte-
grated into the successful self-regulation
of eating behavior and provide a per-
spective for future research on mental
imagery.
MENTAL SIMULATION OF FOOD
CONSUMPTION AND EFFECTS ON
JUDGMENTS AND BEHAVIOR
Many individuals in modern society live
in environments that promote excessive
weight gain because of the omnipresence
of food (5). The exposure to food automat-
ically prepares individuals for food intake
and often evokes thoughts about food, a
simulation of food intake, and a strong
motivation to consume food (6). Indeed,
even the exposure to words related to
tempting food can activate a cascade of
associations with food (7) and the sim-
ulation or reenactment of prior eating
occasions (8). Although internal cues of
hunger or craving are relevant to the for-
mation of such intrusive thoughts to a
large degree, it is clear that thoughts about
food consumption are also triggered by
consumption-related cues in the environ-
ment. Shop design and product presenta-
tion in marketing have tapped into these
mechanisms by using sensory, textural,
and emotional triggers to evoke intrusions,
facilitate the simulation of consumption,
and increase actual purchases and con-
sumption (9,10). Recently, research has
shown that such marketing practices are
not just a creative idea put forth by mar-
keting managers but are supported by con-
crete evidence for the link between men-
tal simulations and behavior. Elder and
Krishna (11) presented participants with
a picture of smooth vanilla yogurt in a
bowl. They varied whether a spoon was
on the right or left side of the bowl. In
support of the hypothesis that participants
simulate their eating of the yogurt prior to
their actual intake in order to forecast the
taste of the yogurt, the researchers found
that right-handed participants indicated
higher purchase intentions when the spoon
was on the right side of the bowl com-
pared with when it was on the left side.
Hence, the characteristics of the presenta-
tion that facilitated the simulation of eat-
ing increased the motivation to eat the
yogurt. The facilitation effect is not lim-
ited to visual perception. For instance,
Mitchell and Kahn (12) reported that the
ambient odor of a room had a con-
siderable effect on the extent to which
individuals thought about the presented
products. When the odor was congruent
with a product (e.g., chocolate), consumers
were more likely to process information
about the product. Similarly,Seo and Roidl
(13) found that congruent odor enhanced
visual attention to odor-congruent food
items. In their study, 60 participants
were presented with four odors (orange,
lavender, coffee, and licorice) prior to
and during the presentation of foods
via photographic slides. Participants who
received olfactory cues looked more fre-
quently and for longer at the correspond-
ing foods than participants in a control
condition with no odor presentation. The
presentation of food also has an effect
on taste assessments. For example, sub-
tle changes of the natural color of an
orange juice drink (darker orange hue)
decreases liking scores substantially (14). In
accordance, manipulating expected brand
pronunciation (incongruent brand label-
ing) was shown to reduce hedonic lik-
ing of yoghurts (15). Taken as a whole,
the results of the above-mentioned stud-
ies correspond with the assumption that
conditions that facilitate the simulation
of the consumption of attractive food
increase interest in the food (e.g., visual
attention or processing of information
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Missbach et al. Mental imagery and food consumption behavior
about the food) and the desire for food
consumption.
Researchers have recently referred to
theories on grounded cognition (16,17)
to explain the effects of perceptions on
thoughts and behavior (10). The basic idea
of these theories is that the cognitive repre-
sentation of concepts is grounded in related
modal systems. Previous theories on cog-
nition had supposed that cognitions were
amodal and, for example, not based on
modal representations of motor behavior.
These theories had implied that individ-
uals can think about eating in the same
way whether or not they can move their
mouth and tongue at the current moment.
By contrast, the more recent approaches of
grounded cognition suppose that thinking
about an object is related to perception and
motor behavior. This means that humans
cannot think about food without simulta-
neously activating related perceptions and
that they simultaneously simulate motor
behavior that is related to the stimulus.
Hence, the mode of thinking is supposed
to be strongly related to the mode of per-
ception and the mode of action. Accord-
ing to the grounded cognition approach,
thinking about food or just reading food-
related words should evoke mental simula-
tions of eating (7). Recently, such assump-
tions have received support from neuro-
science research. Researchers found that
solely the perception of pictures of palat-
able food led to activations in brain areas
associated with gustatory experiences (18)
and elevated ghrelin levels (orexigenic hor-
mone) in healthy volunteers (19). Likefoo d
cues, ghrelin is one major mediator of food
anticipation (20) and recruits the same
neuronal circuitry in the dorsomedial and
ventromedial hypothalamus (21).
An example of a particularly strong
influence of thoughts on behavior is food
craving. Food craving is regarded as a
strong motivational state that urges indi-
viduals to seek and consume a particular
kind of food (22), often containing high
amounts of sugar or fat (23). When indi-
viduals crave food, their thoughts about
food are often so intrusive that they have
trouble pursuing other goals or focusing on
different thoughts. For craving, the causal
direction of the influence is bidirectional
in the sense that craving has an influ-
ence on thought and vice versa. However,
it is important to take into account that
the mental simulation of food consump-
tion triggered by external cues as described
above can result in craving.
REPEATED MENTAL SIMULATION AND
MINDFULNESS
EFFECTS OF REPEATED MENTAL SIMULATION
ON FOOD CONSUMPTION
An interesting aspect of mental simula-
tions during food perception is that men-
tal simulations do not necessarily lead
to increased consumption, but rather,
under certain circumstances, they can lead
to decreased consumption. Interestingly,
repeatedly thinking about food consump-
tion can lead to habituation and a reduced
motivation to consume a specific food,
just like real consumption (24). Habitu-
ation to food is understood as a process
that leads to a decrease in both the phys-
iological and behavioral responses to an
eating episode and a drop in enjoyment
with repeated consumption (24). Several
studies (25–27) have found evidence that
habituation can take place when individu-
als repetitively judge food or imagine eating
food. For instance, Morewedge et al. (26)
asked participants to think either 3 or 30
times about eating M&M’s. Later, partici-
pants were allowed to eat M&M’s. Partici-
pants who thought about eating the candy
30 times ate less of the product than those
who thought about it 3 times and those in
a control condition (who imagined throw-
ing coins into a laundry machine). Like
other habituation effects, this effect was
shown to be sensory-specific and was only
present when the imagined food was con-
gruent with the consumed food. The effect
did not show when the imagined food (e.g.,
M&M’s) was not the same as the consumed
food (e.g., cheese cubes) [(26); Experi-
ment 4]. Similar sensory-specific charac-
teristics between imagined and consumed
foods are therefore fundamental for food
habituation to occur. In our recent study,
we found that habituation after imagined
eating needs mental resources as habitua-
tion during actual eating does (28). Sev-
eral studies have indicated that habituation
is based on a memory process that needs
cognitive capacity to occur. Hence, when
individuals are distracted during eating, for
example, when they watch TV during eat-
ing (29,30), they habituate less to food
and eat more. We found that a depleting
task had a similar effect on habituation
after imagined food consumption. In our
study, we used a mathematical counting
task (31) to deplete participants prior to
simulating the eating of 18 walnuts in one
condition. We showed that participants in
this depletion condition did not habituate
to the mental simulation, and habituation
was blocked, whereas they habituated in a
condition without depletion.
EFFECTS OF MINDFULNESS ON FOOD CHOICE
As reported above, repeatedly imagining
food consumption can reduce the desire
to consume the food (26). But repeti-
tive thoughts about food consumption are
not the only way to reduce the desire to
consume a particular kind of food. Also
important is how individuals think about
the food. While a single vivid image of
the consumption increases the influence
of impulsive responses on food choice,
the influence of impulsive responses on
food choice decreases when consumers
think about the reasons for their food
choice (32). Similarly, mindful attention
to thoughts about food consumption can
reduce choices for unhealthy food items
that are impulsively preferred by con-
sumers. For example, Papies and colleagues
(6) instructed participants to regard their
thoughts from a metacognitive perspec-
tive as temporary constructions that appear
and disappear. When this mindful atten-
tion was applied to food consumption, it
reduced impulsive tendencies to approach
food (6) and also promoted choices of
healthy food (33).
REPEATED MENTAL SIMULATION AND
MINDFULNESS AS INTERVENTIONS
It is important to note that the effects
of mindfulness are conceptually different
from effects of repeated mental simula-
tion. First, repeated mental simulation,but
not mindfulness, needs repetition to show
effects. Second, repeated mental simula-
tion shows specific effects on a particular
kind of food (26) but this is not the case
for mindful attention (6). At present, it
can be assumed that the habituation effects
of repeated mental simulation reflect a
memory process that leads to inhibition
after some length of imagining exposure to
food, whereas mindfulness might be more
likely to block the tempting simulation of
food consumption. Both processes are of
interest for practice. Mindfulness could be
Frontiers in Psychiatry | Affective Disorders and Psychosomatic Research April 2015 | Volume 6 | Article 48 | 2
Missbach et al. Mental imagery and food consumption behavior
used as a method for reducing unhealthy
food intake. By contrast, repeatedly imag-
ining food consumption might reduce
food intake when consumption has already
begun. For example, to increase habitu-
ation to a particular kind of food, indi-
viduals could think about consuming an
unhealthy food that they usually prefer
to eat (e.g., chocolate) repeatedly across
consecutive days. However, while such
long-term effects were demonstrated with
exposure to real food (34), it is still a task
for future research to study the long-term
effects of imagined food consumption. But
there is no doubt that the relevance of
habituation processes is obvious if we con-
sider recent research that has shown that
overweight children habituate more slowly
during consumption than non-overweight
children (35). Against this background,
research on repeated mental simulations
could provide a promising starting point
from which to advance interventions in
food consumption.
CONCLUSION
Current research on food intake behav-
ior regulation is driven by a vital
need to understand the successful and
unsuccessful self-regulation of food con-
sumption. Integrating the cognitive mech-
anisms of mental imagery and mindfulness
that guide eating behaviors may be one
important milestone for enhancing current
models of food intake regulation. As pro-
posed by Redden (36), a general model
should include reflective (memory recall
inferences, metacognitions) and perceptual
(adaptation, habituation) components of
satiation. He argues that satiation is par-
tially constructed in the moment on the
basis of external cues that interact with each
other in a specific eating situation. Research
on mental imagery and mindfulness can
help us understand eating behavior and
to design individual-level interventions. It
can also help us understand why some indi-
viduals are more successful self-regulators
than others (37).
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Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors declare
that the research was conducted in the absence of any
commercial or financial relationships that could be
construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Received: 28 January 2015; accepted: 23 March 2015;
published online: 07 April 2015.
Citation: Missbach B, Florack A and König J (2015)
Mental imagery and food consumption. Front. Psychia-
try 6:48. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00048
This article was submitted to Affective Disorders and Psy-
chosomatic Research, a section of the journal Frontiers in
Psychiatry.
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