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Effects of Food Consistency on Ruminating

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Abstract

Previous research has shown that increasing oropharyngeal stimulation can lead to decreased postmeal ruminating in retarded individuals. The method for producing supplementary stimulation involved getting profoundly and severely retarded individuals to chew sugarless gum. This study further examined the role of oropharyngeal stimulation in ruminating by varying the consistency of the regular diet, a more practical treatment procedure. The consistency of daily meals was varied in a repeated measures design using an ABAB sequence of puree and normal consistency phases. The results showed that the frequency of ruminating after meals approximately doubled in the puree phases for all subjects. This supports previous findings about the role of oropharyngeal stimulation in ruminating and suggests that feeding ruminating individuals a pureed diet may be counterproductive.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36849, USA

    James M. Johnston, Katherine S. Greene, Tina Vazin, Merrill Winston & Aseem Rawal

  2. J. S. Tarwater Developmental Center, USA

    Shou-Lih Chuang

Authors
  1. James M. Johnston
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  2. Katherine S. Greene
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  3. Tina Vazin
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  4. Merrill Winston
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  5. Aseem Rawal
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  6. Shou-Lih Chuang
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Additional information

This research was supported by NICHD Grant #HD22485.

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Johnston, J.M., Greene, K.S., Vazin, T. et al. Effects of Food Consistency on Ruminating. Psychol Rec 40, 609–618 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399543

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