TY - JOUR
T1 - Exposure to television food advertising primes food-related cognitions and triggers motivation to eat
AU - Kemps, Eva
AU - Tiggemann, Marika
AU - Hollitt, Sarah
PY - 2014/10
Y1 - 2014/10
N2 - Objective: This study investigated the effect of exposure to television food advertising on accessibility of food-related cognitions and motivation to eat.Design and main outcome measures: We initially developed a word stem completion task to measure accessibility of food-related cognitions. In two subsequent experiments, 160 female undergraduate students (Experiment 1) and 124 overweight or obese community-dwelling women (Experiment 2) viewed a series of television commercials advertising either food or non-food products. They then completed the word stem task and also rated their desire to eat.Results: Exposure to televised food advertisements led to the completion of word stems with more food- and eating-related words in both experiments. It also increased self-reported desire to eat, but only for overweight and obese individuals (Experiment 2). In both samples, there was a positive association between accessibility of food-related cognitions and reported desire to eat, following priming with television food advertisements.Conclusion: We conclude that an increased activation of food-related cognitions may provide a mechanism for the link between food advertising and consumption. This has implications for tackling pathological (over)eating.
AB - Objective: This study investigated the effect of exposure to television food advertising on accessibility of food-related cognitions and motivation to eat.Design and main outcome measures: We initially developed a word stem completion task to measure accessibility of food-related cognitions. In two subsequent experiments, 160 female undergraduate students (Experiment 1) and 124 overweight or obese community-dwelling women (Experiment 2) viewed a series of television commercials advertising either food or non-food products. They then completed the word stem task and also rated their desire to eat.Results: Exposure to televised food advertisements led to the completion of word stems with more food- and eating-related words in both experiments. It also increased self-reported desire to eat, but only for overweight and obese individuals (Experiment 2). In both samples, there was a positive association between accessibility of food-related cognitions and reported desire to eat, following priming with television food advertisements.Conclusion: We conclude that an increased activation of food-related cognitions may provide a mechanism for the link between food advertising and consumption. This has implications for tackling pathological (over)eating.
KW - food cognitions
KW - motivation to eat
KW - obesity
KW - priming
KW - television food advertising
KW - word stem completion task
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84904406644&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/08870446.2014.918267
DO - 10.1080/08870446.2014.918267
M3 - Article
VL - 29
SP - 1192
EP - 1205
JO - Psychology and Health
JF - Psychology and Health
SN - 0887-0446
IS - 10
ER -