The Role of Emotional Arousal in Food Preference and Taste

Summary

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of stress in food craving and food consumption in obesity. Using experimentally validated guided imagery procedure, the investigators propose to examine the stress response using subjective, physiological and neurobiological measurements.

Conditions

• Obesity
• Food Craving
• Food Consumption

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Stress Imagery

The stress imagery script will be based on subjects' description of a recent personal stressful event that they had experienced as "most stressful". "Most stressful" is determined by having the subjects rate the perceived stress experienced by them on a 10-point Likert scale where "1=not at all stressful" and "10=the most stress they felt recently in their life". Only situations rated as 8 or above on this scale are accepted as appropriate for script development. Examples of acceptable stressful situations include breakup with significant other, a verbal argument with a significant other or family member or unemployment-related stress, such as being fired or laid off from work.

BEHAVIORAL

Food Cue Imagery

A food cue script will be developed from the subjects' experience of eating their most favorite foods. Examples include ordering pizza, cooking a favorite meal, or going out to a restaurant.

BEHAVIORAL

Neutral-Relaxing

A neutral-relaxing script will be developed from the subjects' commonly experienced neutral-relaxing situations, such as a trip to the beach or park.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

  collaborator NIH

• Yale University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Rajita Sinha, PhD · Professor

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

45 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2013-08-31

Primary Completion

2019-06-30

Completion

2019-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations