Impulsivity Makes More Susceptible to Overeating After Contextual Appetitive Conditioning

Abstract

The prevalence of overweight and obesity has been rapidly increasing, adversely affecting quality of life and leading to increased health care costs (Flegal et al., 2010; Sturm, 2002). The obesogenic environment plays an important role in the current rise in obesity prevalence (Swinburn, Egger, and Raza, 1999), although it is not clear yet why some people are more vulnerable to overeat in a tempting environment than others. The abundant environment is characterized by many cues that signal high-calorie food availability (Burton, Smit, and Lightowler, 2007; Rodin and Slochower, 1976), and classical conditioning has been put forward as a mechanism that might explain why it is so difficult for some people to resist environmental temptations: in case of strong reinforcers, like tasty highcalorie foods, one easily learns to associate a predictor of intake with the actual eating.

Reference: Van den Akker, Karolien, Jansen, Anita, Frentz, Florentine, Havermans, Remco. (2013). Impulsivity Makes More Susceptible to Overeating After Contextual Appetitive Conditioning. Appetite, 70, 73-80.