Does mental imagery influence our food consumption?

Thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth for the Msc in Psychology

By Spiros Papageorgiou

2012

The work reported in this thesis received ethical approval from the Faculty of
Science and complies with the guidelines set by the British Psychological Society .

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank my supervisor Professor Jackie Andrade for her continuous support
and encouragement to do my research ,through which I learned so many new things
about psychology .

Abstract

The goal of the research was to investigate how mental imagery influences
real food consumption .The study was based on the Elaboration Intrusion theory and
Morewedge et al (2010) research findings and design . The participants were 52
males and females. They were divided in 3 groups and each group had to learn and
execute one particular mental imagery task .In group 1 participants had to put 33
coins in a slot machine imaginary .In the 2nd group the participants had to imaginary
eat 33 crisps from a bowl and in the 3rd group they had to focus for 1 min in the
sensation of having crisps and chewing them inside the mouth . After the execution
of the tasks the participants consumed freely from a bowl with potato crisps .Their
crisp consumption was measured in grams .One variable was designed to test
Morewedge theory ( imagine you eat 33 crisps from a bowl ) the second was based
on E.I theory ( imagine you have crisps in your mouth and focus on the sensation of
eating them ) .The third variable was used as a control factor. The hypothesis was
that the group of 33 crisps will eat less , the group with the crisps in the mouth will
eat more .The results were not statistically significant as tested by ANOVA .However
the groups consumption results showed small numerical differences between the
groups.

Table of Contents

Page
Introduction

Method19

Results .. 25

Discussion .

29

References

44

Appendix 48-49

List of Tables

Table

Page

1
TABLE 1. Descriptive statistics of first ANOVA
2
TABLE 2. First ANOVA table
3
TABLE 3. First ANOVA Post hoc LSD test
TABLE 4. Second Descriptive statistics table
5
TABLE 5 .Second ANOVA table

40
40
41
41
41

List of Graphs

Graph

Page

1 . Graph 1 .Group means of potato crisps consumption measured in grams

42

2 . Graph 2 . First pilot study ( replication of original Morewedge et al 2010

43

research ).

Introduction

One faculty of the human brain which is always with us but we dont give so
much attention because it usually happens automatically is our imagination which
can take many different forms .In this research we used the visual and sensory
mental imagination to find how it influences food consumption . All normal brain
functioning persons can close their eyes ( or have their eyes open ) and imagine a
sequence of actions or generally imagine a pictorial or any other type of sensory
representation with relatively easiness.
A good definition of imagery is the following developed by Ganis et al (2001) :
Mental imagery occurs when perceptual information is accessed from memory,
giving rise to the experience of seeing with the minds eye, hearing with the minds
ear and so on. By contrast, perception occurs when information is directly registered
from the senses. Mental imagery can take different forms ,can be visual imagery ,
auditory , taste imagery , motor imagery and others sensory modalities (Ganis et al
2001).
The last decades the science of psychology tried to explore how visual
imagery is involved in various brain processes more thoroughly .New technologies
such as Fmri and advances in research psychology helped to understand more the
mental imagery and their influence on human behaviour .Scientists took different
roots to explore its functions , other psychologists tried to investigate the differences
between real vision and imaginary vision by using brain imagining technology such
as Fmri and Pet scan , others tried to find ways to include visual imagery in sports or
psychotherapy schemes in order to cure phobias , addictions etc. Others tried to
search how mental imagery is involved in eating and generally in craving and
desiring something .In this introduction the above subjects will be covered and

specifically the theories that have been developed regarding how mental and visual
imagination influences our food craving and real food consumption .

The role of mental imagery in psychotherapy and psychological disorders

Imagination has been used from very early psychologists like Freud or Jung
as an important part of psychotherapy .According to Scorr there are two different
types of visual imagery .The directed type where the psychologists dictates to the
person what to imagine and think about .The second is the spontaneous type where
the person focuses on their inner world and report what they see or what comes
to their attention (Schorr, J 1974).
The last decades behaviourists and cognitive behaviourists psychologists
have included visual imagery in their psychotherapy models. Imaginary interventions
seem to have very strong influence on emotion especially of the visual type of them
and have been involved in clinical psychotherapy on phobias , post traumatic stress
disorders ,eating disorders and addictions (May J. et al 2008).
Researchers have found that in post traumatic stress disorder the patients
have recurrent images of their traumatic event .In social phobia also patients see
their self s to be in social situations with negative connotations and mainly these
images represent their fears and past traumatic experiences (Holmes et al 2007) .
Beck found that visual imagination has a strong influence on various
psychological disorders and by modifying these images therapeutic change can be
induced (Holmes et al 2007).
Psychologists Arntz, de Groot, and Kindt (2005) have shown in their studies
on affective disorders that the traumatic stimuli are of visual nature mainly .This
8

shows how important are these images which are loaded with emotional qualities
mainly of negative essence and how they influence the development of
psychopathology .So they concluded that the traumatic memory involves highly vivid
visual imaginary images of that traumatic experience .(Holmes E. 2007 ).
This has been shown by experiments on cognitive interpretation bias .In this
study by Holmes & Mathews ( 2005) the participants had to interpret negative or
positive events eg like jumping in a cliff by visualising it or by verbally describing it.
The results showed that more visual elaboration lead to more emotional charged and
kept longer in memory than the verbal accounts .In another research by Holmes et al
(2007) with people who have tried to commit suicide the results were that these
patients had their suicidal experiences imprinted as visual images and can recall
them in their memory .These findings suggest that visual imagery is stronger with
negative emotional states and that positive change can happen by using visual
imagination .

Visual imagery in applied psychotherapy

The realization that visual imagination is involved in many clinical

psychological conditions and the influence it has lead psychologists to make
research on it on how to apply visual imagination techniques in order to aid
psychotherapy .
Visual imagination has been used widely on phobias . In a technique
developed by Wolpe which is called systematic desensitization the patient has to
imagine the fear stimuli very vividly but in sequences .So if a patient fears dogs he will
imagine first that he looks at a magazine which displays dogs , then he might imagine
watching a small dog from a distance , then he will imagine a dog with him in a large
room and so one until the person imagine being with the dog from very close and
overcoming the traumatic phobic reaction .The patient has to vividly imagine these
sequences and endure the emotional pain fear and distress that might be elicited
by the fear stimuli .This technique of systematic desensitization has been widely
accepted as effective way to cure phobias .The patient gets habituated to the feared
stimuli , learns to overcome his/her stressful reactions by learning strategies to cope
with the anxiety and stress reaction to phobic stimuli and finally manages to get over
the phobia in real life also .(Holmes et al 2007) .
Another psychotherapeutic technique that uses imagery is cognitive
restructuring and imagery re scripting .Both techniques can be applied under the
cognitive behaviour therapy protocols for treating affect disorders such as social
phobias ,anxiety , ptsd etc. With these techniques the images and cognitions of the
patient are assessed and than they are altered or re evaluated and analysed rationally
In imagery re scripting the images that the person relives are changed as if the person
is a director in a film (Holmes E. 2007).

10

Simple as it may sound these techniques ,which give a very important role on
mental imagery, are not so easy to be done but the results show reduction in distress
and improvement in the condition of the patients .(Holmes E. 2007).

Mental imagery and craving

So far research has shown that visual imagery is involved in various

psychological conditions of our life and the alteration of mental imagery can lead to
changes in the behaviour . With these findings various psychologists tried to
investigate the role of mental imagery on craving for food and other substances.
Researchers have found that sensory imagery plays a big role on craving and
addiction on addictive and other substances (Kavanagh et al., 2009).
Mental imagery and its role on craving for tobacco has been demonstrated on
researchers Tifany et al (1991) .In their research they asked participants to use their
imagination and imagine cigars related stimuli and situations versus neutral stimuli
and situations .The desire for smoking in the first group increased thus more vivid
imagery lead to more smoking desires (Andrade 2011).
Since researchers have found that mental imagination is linked with craving
and addictive behaviours , researchers started investigating how mental imagination
is involved also in obesity and food craving in general .
Eating disorders , obesity and mental imagery

11

Obesity is a serious health condition in modern western types of societies

mainly ,where food is abundant .In USA only , 31% of men and 35 % of women are
obese (Brownwell,K.D 1995). Generally bad eating habits are widely spread and
very detrimental for the national health services both financially and in human
casualties .Obese people have much higher risk of various serious health conditions
such as heart disease , diabetes ,strokes muscular problems etc .(Manson et al
2002) .Modern psychology sees obesity under an evolutionary perspective .Our
ancestor s lived in environment s were food was not available all the time and in
sufficient quantities so in periods of food abundance our ancestor s consumed
more in order to store them as fat .The fat would then be used in periods where food
is not frequent or available enough and that s how obesity functions .However in
modern western type of societies or others ,were food is frequent and available ,the
causes of obesity might be different ( Levin E. 2007).
Research has also found that craving has a big contribution to obesity
(Schlundt DG et al 1993).Craving has as a goal to obtain something desired so the
dopaminergic reward system in the brain is also involved in this process .Indeed
research showed brain abnormalities in the dopaminergic system in both drug
addicts and obese people (Volkow ND et al 2012).

The problems of obesity are so severe for societies so researchers tried to

use various treatments for it .Because mental imagery is involved in craving ,eating
disorders and especially obesity could be good candidate s for psychological

12

research between them and mental imagery .Also the implications from mental
imagination and eating disorders could be gross .It is possible that patients with
eating disorders could be taught mental imagery tasks which could probably help
them with their eating habits and improve their conditions.

Morewedge research on visual imagery and their influence on food

consumption

Morewedge et al (2010) did a series of experiments to investigate how visual

imagination of eating a food influences the real food consumption of this food .My
first pilot research for the 5406 Practise in Psychology course was a replication of
Morewedges experiments and my second current research was an extension of it
with the inclusion of an independent variable testing Elaboration Intrusion theory.
Moredwedge had the hypothesis that more thinking about a eating a food will
lead to decreased real food consumption of this food due to habituation and less
thinking about it would lead to more food consumption or increased desire to eat the
food .According to his hypotheses mental imagery can induce habituation to a
stimulus even if the stimulus was imagined and not actually experienced .
Morewedge et al (2010) .Morewedge created in his experiments 3 independent
variables to test his assumptions .He used as the food stimulus chocolate candies
M&Ms .There were 51 participants who were divided in 3 equal groups .The first
group was the control group and had to learn and execute a mental imagery task
13

which involved putting coins in a slot machine. The second group had to imagine
visually that they eat 30 mms from a bowl and put 3 coins in a slot machine .The 3
group they had to imaginary eat 3 mms and put 30 coins in the slot machine .After
the execution of the tasks the participants had to eat freely from a bowl full of mms .
The consumption of each participant was measured with a digital scale in grams.
The mean consumption of each group was then compared statistically. These
imaginary tasks were meant to be done only imaginary and without any real
movement from the participants. (Morewedge et al 2010) .The results showed that
habituation happened and the participants of the high imaginary conditions that
imaginary ate 30 mms in reality ate less mms than the other two conditions .
My first pilot study was an exact replication of that experiment by Morewedge
and had the same structure and hypothesis .I had 31 participants in 3 conditions
(condition 1 control group 33coins , condition 2 -30 crisps and 3 coins , condition 3
3crisps and 30 coins ) and the change was that they had to consume potato crisps.
Potato crisps were selected for their ingredients: the fat and salt which they contain
and we wanted to check if Morewedge findings will again be continued with another
food .

The hypothesis that increased visual imagination will lead to reduced actual
consumption of crisps was not supported in my pilot research .The results showed
the opposite that the more imaginary repetitions of eating crisps made the
participants eat slightly more then the control and less crisps consumption condition
14

See Graph 3 for results.

The participants who imagined eating 30 crisps ate more real crisps .This
reminds of the commonly accepted idea that the more you imagine something the
more you desire it. This idea is explained by another theory on craving and mental
imagery the Elaboration Intrusion theory .

.Elaboration intrusion model theory and experiments

The results of my pilot study showed the opposite findings than what
Morewedge experiments have found .This lead my research to a different direction.

15

The results showed that more thinking and more imaginary repetitions of eating
crisps lead to increased real crisp consumption . A theory which deals with such a
finding and tries to explain craving and desire for food and other substances is the
Elaboration Intrusion theory which was developed by my supervisor professor
Jackie Andrade ,John May and Kavanagh .The Elaboration Intrusion theory of desire
tries to explain the phenomenon of craving and addictive behaviour .When we desire
something a whole sequence of actions is happening inside our brain cognitive
system .E.I. theory was studied especially for food craving but also for other
substances (Andrade et al 2007) .
So when appetite is high for a food intrusive thoughts appear and these
thoughts are triggered by various cues or stimulus in the environment , for example if
you adore coffee and you listen in the radio show about a wonderful cup of coffee
,your cognitive system will get activated and your chances to crave and go and drink
a coffee are increased .This sequence depends a lot on how strong is the liking for
the particular food or drink or substance .These intrusive thoughts if they elicit a
positive feeling they will further be elaborated or processed by the cognitive system
and further increase the desire to get the imagined object (Andrade et al 2012).
After the cue the intrusive thoughts are represented by verbal or mental
images . (Kavanagh J. 2005). According to the theory these mental images have a
emotional component which is very strong , is linked with past pleasurable
experiences and have a powerful effect on the elaboration of the thoughts in order to
obtain the pleasure from having the particular stimulus .Back in the example of the
coffee in the radio show , after the cue of listening about coffee ,memory will bring to
consciousness the image of a cup of coffee along with other sensory representations
of it eg the smell or taste thus it will lead to elaboration of it and this will lead to

16

actually think how to obtain a cup of coffee . (Baddeley & Andrade,2000)

Also the amount of how strong is the craving depends on how vivid the mental
images are. Researcher Kavanagh et al. (2009) in his study with alcoholics found
that alcoholics reported having vivid mental imagery while on their strong craving
episodes . (Kavanagh J. 2005)
The availability of the desired stimuli plays an important role in E.I theory .If
its not in hand then this deprivation of not having the desired object will increase
negative moods and then recall positive one thus making the object more desirable (
Achtziger A, 2009).
E.I theory seem also to fit well with the working memory model of Baddeley
which is divided in the visual sketchial pad , the phonological loop , the buffer and
the central executive system .(Eysenck et al 2005) . The E.I theory involves both the
long term memory of the pleasant stimulus from the past and the recall of it at the
present and the load it creates in the working memory at the present.
Since these intrusive thoughts are data or information they occupy resources
and influence the persons perception of that moment (like the buffer memory of a
computer system ) and thus other tasks have fewer resources to be executed or
evaluated and generally the intrusive thought compete with other tasks that moment
(Kavanagh J.2005).
This lead researcher Baddeley and Andrade to try to create tasks which
interfered with the mental imagery and see how these distractors influence the
imagery . In their series of experiments the participants were smokers who were
trying to quit smoking .The participants learned either a neutral visual imagery task
or an equivalent auditory task .Indeed because the working memory consists of a
visual buffer and phonetic buffer the use of particular distractor tasks of each type
17

influences the vividness of the mental imagery due to sources competition and
overload . As a conclusion visual imagery competing memory tasks reduced the
smokers cravings .( May-Andrade 2010)..
Researchers Harvey et al (2005) tried to investigate the nature of craving for
food and how mental imagery is involved. There were 120 participants in total 60 in
diet 60 not in diet .The participants had to do imagine either a food induction task or
a holiday task .Then they had to perform either a visual imagery task or a auditory
task and their craving was measured in a scale before and after the experiment .The
results showed that visual imagination of the food increased the craving for the
food ,a conclusion which supports also the Elaboration Intrusion theory , and since
the craving had visual imagery as a core the visual task reduced the craving .
(Harvey K. et al 2005).
In this current research I had to explore how mental
imagination influences the consumption of a real food particulary potato crisps lightly
salted . Morewedge findings and El theory have contrary results and predictions and
we wanted to investigate how visual imagination influences how much you eat and
which hypotheses would prove stronger to influence food consumption .

Method

The experiment used 52 participants 32 females and 20 males ,mainly

students of the Plymouth university and others who were eligible to participate
through the university psychology participation pool system .The participants had

18

different ages ,the mean age was 28 years old .The experiment procedures had the
following sequence of phases :
1)Consent form completion and information regarding the experimental procedures
to the participant
2)Mental tasks learning
3)Mental tasks execution
4)Answer questions on crisps size estimation or coin size estimation
5)Consume potato crisps
6)Answer question on crisps taste rates
7)Debrief finish .
8)Measure the participants crisps consumption on a digital weight scale in grams
9)Enter each participants crisp consumption in excel file for data collection
10)All data then was analysed with SPPS with one way ANOVA analysis

Materials

The current research has received ethical approval by the Psychology

department of Plymouth university on spring 2012.The experiments took place in
Link building psychology laboratories of Plymouth university during end of March
2012 till the end of June 2012 usually from 10.00 till 15.30 am .
19

A laptop computer was used to show the image of the coins and the image of
the crisps . The laptop was used also to keep the data safe in an excel file and also
included participants number , date and time , place of experiment , group allocation
and crisps.
A digital weight scale was used to measure the real crisps consumption of
each participant .The standard full weight of the bowl was always 40 grams of potato
crisps and after the participants finished the remaining crisps were measured . Each
participants crisps consumption was then put in an excel file and stored in a
separate hard disk and all names were made anonymous in order to provide
confidentiality for the participants .
The experiment used potato crisps as the mean to test visual imagery .The
potato crisps were of a high quality brand and fresh .In order to avoid taste
preferences a plain and neutral lightly salty taste was used . All the necessary
materials such as the potato crisps and the digital weight scale were provided from
the tech office .

Design and procedure

There are two very influential theories on the area of mental imagination and
real food consumption: Morewedge theory which claims that more repetitions lead to
decreased food consumption and Elaboration intrusion theory that claims that
increased food consumption imagination will lead to more craving and eating of the
real food .In order to test both theories the current study was designed to apply each
20

theory hypothesis to one independent variable and further to a specific group of

participants. The research was designed in such a way in order to include on
independent variable from Morewedge result and combine it with another
independent variable which was using the EI theory hypotheses. The variable testing
Morewedge hypothesis (eating 33 crisps ) was used in his experiments and has
shown to influence the participants consumption .For this reason it was used in the
current experiment with the change that participants had to only focus on imagining
they eat 33 crisps and no coins imagery was asked in that group .
The variable testing E.I theory was new , has not been used in other research
and was using multiple mental imagery ( participants had to visualize the scene and
focus on the sensations they have when they eat crisps ).
The participants were told that they were participating in an experiment which
was measuring visual imagination and influence on size estimation and taste
preferences .This form of deceit was used solely to provoke the participants to
consume crisps without any other influence except from the mental imagery tasks
which were being tested .The reasons for this tactic were explained in the debrief
phase .
Each group had to learn a specific for the group visual imagery task then they
executed the task and then consumed freely potato crisps. The participants were
divided in 3 groups (group 1 N=17 , group 2 N =18 , group 3 N= 17 ) , control group
1 with 33 visual imagery coins insertion repetitions , group 2 was with 33 imaginary
potato crisps eating based on Morewedge theory and ,group 3 was based on E.I.
theory and was using 1 minute focusing on the whole experience-sensation of
having crisps in the mouth and eating them .
In the first group the participants had to visual imagine that they were in front
21

of a slot machine and were inserting coins in the slot machine by imaginary
stretching their hand and putting the coin in (no actual movement only imagination)
This task was irrelevant to the crisp consumption and was used as the control group
baseline .
The group 2 had to consume imaginary 33 crisps from a bowl and use visual
imagery .This group was using Morewedge hypothesis that more visual imaginary
repetitions will lead to decreased real food consumption due to the habituation of the
participants with the food .
The group 3 had to imagine that they were eating crisps and they had crisps
inside their mouth for 1 minute duration .Participants had to focus on the general
sensation and feelings that they usually have when they have crisps inside their
mouth and they are eating them and had to use not only visual imagery but also
taste imagery .This independent variable was testing the Elaboration Intrusion theory
which claims that the more elaboration in the consciousness of a particular food
leads to increased food consumption due to the activation of memory
representations that further lead to craving and desire to eat the particular food
more. (Andrade et al 2012).
The 33 coins independent variable was used in the control group . Even if this
control group independent variable did not involve imaginary eating of a food it also
had high rates of consumption . Morewedge in his original study states that the coin
in the slot machine resemble the action of stretching the hand and taking crisps from
the bowl , so the independent variable is not so disconnected from the other
variables that involve crisps imaginary eating. (Morewedge et al 2010 ).
After the briefing the participants were taught their visual imagery tasks .
Most participants did not find any difficulty to execute the tasks and no problems

22

appeared during the testing procedure .The visual imagery tasks in group 1 and 2
usually took around 1-2 minutes to be completed .In group 3 the time for the
execution of the imagery task of the crips sensation was 1 minute and was
measured with a computer timer program.
When the participants finished the execution of the tasks they had to answer a
question about either the size estimation of 4 different 1 pound coins images or to
estimate the size of 4 images of different sizes of potato crisps that they think they
consumed imaginarily .These size estimation tasks scores were not used for data
analysis but were used to make the experiment more realistic in the eyes of the
participant .
The next phase was the crisp consumption where participants were given a
bowl of potato crisps (weight 40 grams) and were asked to eat as much as they
wanted freely . When the participants finished they were asked to rate the taste of
the crisps from 1 terrible up to 10 very good .Also this taste rating task was not
measured and was solely used to provoke the participant to eat crisps .

The final part of the experiment was the debrief phase were all the details and
the aims of the research were explained to the participants and they were also payed
2 pounds for their time .Then the crisps consumption was measured with a digital
scale and the data were put in an excel file for storing .
Each group mean crisp consumption measured in grams was the dependent
variable of the experiment .After the full data collection the data was put for analysis
in SPSS using the method of one way ANOVA along with a Lsd post hoc test .

23

Results

After the completion of the experiments the data was put in SPSS in order to
be analysed properly. The preferred method was one way ANOVA analysis and a
post hoc test (L.S.D) was also used to establish further the credibility of the results .
In this research the ANOVA was done and checked with two different ways.

24

The first time ANOVA was used with all the values that were originally gathered .In
this analysis all the values of very high and low crisps consumption were used .
In the second time a data transformation filter was used in order to eliminate
data entries that were much higher then the average mean of crisps consumption.
The second time ,with this way of analysis ,4 participants entries were excluded due
to very high crisp consumption above >25 or =25 grams .
Both results are reported here starting with the first ANOVA with the full
original entries .

FIRST ANOVA analysis (ALL VALUES INCLUDED)

From the descriptive statistics table we see that the 3 rd condition ( 1minute
crisps sensation condition ,E.I. theory ) had the highest mean with M=9.76 and
SD=8.90 .Second was the 1rst condition ( 33 coins control group) with M=7.94 and

25

SD=6.75 .Last on crisp consumption was the 2 nd condition ( 33 crisps Morewedge

hypothesis ) with M=7.55 and SD= 9.97 .From these results we can see that the 3 rd
group of participants which was using the Elaboration Intrusion theory had the
highest consumption in potato crisps .The 2nd group which was testing Morewedge
hypotheses had the lowest potato crisp consumption . The control group showed
also high potato crisp consumption mean M=7.94 even if in this group the visual
imagery task does not involve the imaginary eating of crips but only imagining of
inserting coins in a slot machine
See

: Table 1 First ANOVA descriptive statistics table

From the ANOVA table we see that F (2,49) =3.19 , P=.728 >0.05 .
The difference between the 3 independent variables is not significant statistically .
With a first glance at the results at the descriptive statistics table arithmetically there
is indeed a difference between the conditions but statistically this difference is not
important meaning that the visual imagination tasks were not influencing the potato
consumption as much as was expected by the two hypotheses .
See : Table 2 First ANOVA table .

To further establish the credibility of the results a post hoc analysis test was
used in this occasion L.S.D test was chosen .
The post hoc test also did not show any significant differences between the
variables .
See Table 3 Multiple Comparisons Lsd test table.

26

Second ANOVA analysis (4 DATA ENTRIES OF PARTICIPANTS CRISP

CONSUMPTION WERE ERASED AND A FILTER WAS USED )

Some participants showed very high crisp consumption for unknown reasons.
Their values deviated too much from the norm of consumption which was 8.41
grams .In order to make the experimental analysis more credible a filter was applied
{ 8.41 + (2 * 8.56)=25.53 } in the ANOVA in order to exclude participants values who
exceeded the limit .From the total 52 participants with the application of the exclusion
filter 4 participants were removed from the ANOVA analysis. From the descriptive
statistic table we see that the 4 excluded participants had M=31 which is very high
compared to the rest of the population sample M=6.52

See Table 4 Second ANOVA descriptive statistics table.

The ANOVA table did not show any significant values with F(1,51)=72.49
,P=.000>0.05 .Thus again even with the filter analysis the results did not show any
important differences between the mental imagery tasks .

27

See table 5 Second ANOVA .

In both ANOVAs the results showed that mental imagery tasks did not
influence the potato crisp consumption significantly in statistical terms .The groups
had indeed arithmetically differences on the mean amount of crisps consumption but
not high enough to be important .

DISCUSSION

This research was trying to see how visual imagery influences how much we
eat a food .In order to do this we used hypotheses and findings from two other

28

researches first of the Morewedge and than on E.I. theory .In this current research
the results showed again that strictly statistically the results were not significant ,in
other words the 2 independent variables which used visual imaginary tasks did not
prove strong enough to show a clear influence on them on how much crisps
someone consumed. However the 3 means of the variables showed small
arithmetical differences between them which still make the subject of mental
imagery and how it influences real food consumption more puzzling and demanding
more research.
The two theories are conflicting and predict different reactions. Morewedge
hypothesis says that more thinking about a food would lead to decrease in real food
consumption whereas the EI predicts that more intrusive thoughts of visual imagery
and elaboration will lead to more eating.
The second group of the experiment had to do the imagery task of consuming
33 crisps from a bowl .According to Morewedge this group would show less
consumption than the other two due to the habituation of the individual with the food
which would then lead to a decrease in the crisp consumption due to reduction on
the craving for crisps . This result even if not statistically significant appeared in this
research group 2 M=7.55 .The second group ate less crisps than the other two
groups.

Probably Morewedge findings that more thinking about the food leads to
habituation and than as a reduced desire to eat ,could be explained with a more
cognitive approach .The elaboration of that food in the brain leads to increased
occupancy of the working memory buffer by that particular stimuli .In such a situation
the system starts to habituate to it and then in the real appearance of the food stimuli
29

reduced consumption happens .Since that data was registered and processed in the
system for long this makes the system to not pay attention to it any more in order for
other processes to happen and the memory buffer to be used to the new ones . If our
memory and central executive were compulsively occupied by only a particular
stimuli then this might have survival consequences also .Thats why its seems that
our systems are flexible and as a safety valve the memory system can reset and
disengage from one habituated long processed stimuli to a new one or do not pay
any more attention to that particular stimuli which was long processed .
In the same manner the 3 group with the independent variable of the 1
minute crisp imagery eating sensation showed also arithmetical difference compared
to the other two groups group 3 M=9.76 .The third group ate more than the other
two groups. Probably these participants due to the effortfull thinking and focus on the
sensation of eating crisps finally consumed more crisps. According to the E.I. theory
the mental imagery task with the sensation of crisps in the mouth would recall
positive memory representations of the potatoes and increase the craving to them
and consequently the participant will eat more to satisfy his desire .

The two independent variables were also different on another sense .The
variable testing Morewedge hypothesis was asking for a simple visual imagery task,
stretching the hand, taking crisps from a bowl and eating them .This plain and
mechanistic task might fatigue participants attention and working memory and thus
create habituation and reduced consumption

.The 3rd variable did not use only

visual imagination but also participants had to focus on the various sensations of
30

having the crisps in the mouth and chewing them so this combination of rich and
different imagery sensory sensations would according to E.I theory lead to
increased craving and more consumption of the food. Participants will recall from
long term memory positive representations and thus eat more .
However these long term memory representations can be of negative nature
as indicated by a participant comments. A female participant who was assigned on
the 3rd condition when focused on the crisp sensation in her mouth recalled eating
crisps with a taste that she was allergic to and recalled the negative reaction of her.
After focusing on this negative experience she focused on another taste and
continued her task .This account shows that mental imagery requires memory
,attention ,switching between tasks and many more cognitive faculties . The female
participant was actively and consciously switching between tastes ,was feeling the
sensation, so the elaboration process could be conscious and not absolutely
automatic .

The human brain has two systems of processing information , system 1 is

based on heuristic ways its fast and frugal whereas the system 2 is the analytical
system which processed information in a rich way .Mental imagery seems to be
based on both systems .The individuals seem to have differences in which system
31

they use and under which circumstances ,they can behave in automatic ways based
on past memory representations and heuristics or be more conscious and analytical
in their process (Evans J 2008 ) .
Since the system is based in two modes and uses also memory buffer
competing mental imagery task could be used a psychotherapy to patients who have
addictions and other conditions (May J et al 2004) .The occupancy of memory buffer
from competing mental imagery task will disrupt the elaboration of the not desired
que and reduce the undesired behaviour .Also effort should be made on breaking the
automatic response by helping the person build up self control and self
management. These results show that mental imagery seem to have at least a small
influence on the how much crisps participants consumed however both theories
could only possibly be supported if more research is done and these results appear
higher .

Confounding dactors

In this current study despite all the efforts to design and control all the factors
in order to make the research more reliable and valid there were some factors which

32

need further investigation and notice .It appears that possibly two factors should be
looked at in the future research on this area :The first confounding factor has to do
with how much a person likes the potato crisps and the second factor is how much
hungry they are at the moment of their participation in the experiments .
Potato crisps are a favourite snack for many . The persons who like them
have positive memories associated with them and these can be recalled and induce
craving and desire for the potato crisps which were used in the experiment . If you
like a food you usually eat more and the opposite if you dont like so much or nothing
at all .The 3rd variable was asking from the participant to imagine they have potato
crisps in their mouth and were required to focus on the sensation . According to the
E.I. theory people who like crisps and were participating in the 3 rd group would very
possibly eat more crisps than other participants .The liking of the crisps was not
asked before the mental imagery task training phase .This is a confounding factor
which needs to be checked on future research on the area because might influence
the results .The participants in this experiment were randomly allocated in the groups
so proportions of participants with greater liking or dislike for crisps could be in any
group .A future design should put participants who like crisps equally distributed in
the 3 groups and check for the influence of the variables .Also this should be done to
participants who dont like crisps and check them how the mental imagery tasks
influence their food consumption .
However not all people like crisps ,generally even if they are a widely spread
food .The many different tastes of crisps could be a factor that influences how much
a person consume s or likes them . The research tried to find a middle way and we
used potato crisps of a high quality brand of slightly salted taste . These crisps dont
have a particular taste such as bacon or cheese so were used as the food stimulus.
33

The taste sensation could further be influenced by biochemical mechanisms that

might influence how a particular taste influence the specific person food in take.This
is an area which also needs to be checked .Especially the fact that potato crisps
have a lot of fat and salt might be on influence on the satiation of the individual.
The other major factor that possibly influences the research is the satiation
state of the person during the time of the experiment. In other words how much
hungry is the person .Normally is expected for a hungry person to eat more in order
to reduce the craving for food especially if this hungriness state is associated with
positive memories of eating potato crisps using again the E.I theory .The research
did not use a measurement to check the satiation state of the person eg how many
hours ago they had food etc. The future studies should include such a measurement
from the beginning and have as a requirement to not come hungry. This factor of the
individuals satiation state if combined with a greater liking of the particular crisps
would also lead to increased food eating and thus contaminate the results .
Satiation is governed highly by underlying biochemical mechanisms and things get
more complicated If we consider also the great influence of the brain systems in
satiation process plus the influence of the mental imagery tasks .

So in a future research the experiment should use a hungriness scale and

drop out hungry participants, keep those with a normal state of satiation , should add
a how much they like the particular crisps ,participants will be divided in those of high
liking and those on the low range of liking. Further more the independent variables of
the 33 imaginary crisps (Morewedge hypotheses ) and the EI indepent variable ( 1
min sensation and imagination of eating crisps ) would be also included and
34

analysed totally along with the two factors mentioned above.

Another factor is the ability of vividness of the mental imagery by each
participant. In this research a visual imagery vividness scale was not used . Not all
people have the same ability for mental imagery and this had been found by creating
scales for visual imagery vividness and classifying people in various degrees of
capability on mental imagery (Andrade 2010) . Some seem to focus easily and
visualize with detail and good sensation while other may lack attention to focus on
the mental imagery or might do it with less detail .A female participant commented
that she was very easy to do the visual imagery task and focus and really feel it
imaginarily because she was doing yoga meditation for many years and these
techniques stimulate visual imagination .A vividness scale could be used in future
research and categorize participants in groups of high and low visual imagery
vividness and than testing them each on one of the independent variables with
Morewedge and El theory variables .
Males and females consumption was not measured for sex differences
between them so this factor could also be included in future research.

Its good to understand that the results of this current research are based on
laboratory experimentation .Its highly probable that the participants will behave
differently when acting on their natural environment .More work is needed in order to
create the experimental methods to test participants mental imagery in their natural
environment s and with or without the presence of others .Social pressure and the
specific circumstances of that moment are also factors which might influence how
35

much food is taken. Eating in front of other might be an issue of embarrassment or

discomfort for many people so in order to reduce this the experimenter stayed with
the participant inside the room but facing in a totally different direction and not
interfering with the participant in any way until he/she said was done eating.

Participants comments

During the experiment I was trying to understand the participants opinion of

the two theories thats why I asked them their own opinion and comments about it.
So I had noted down some of the comments they made, and in my opinion some are

36

very interesting .
The original comments follow : I am a chef and I favour Morewedge theory I
am habituated with food in my work environment and I eat less at home generally
cause I feel I had enough food even if I had almost nothing at work .It seems that
you had enough if you had though of it before .
One female participant said : When I prepare roast at home and I put effort
on it to prepare it finally I dont eat much !
Another one said that : even if I love that particular crisps I imagined it in my
mind many times and I was fed up with and didnt want to eat much .
An interpretation of these comments shows that they favour Morewedge
hypotheses .People seem to behave according to Morewedge hypothesis in many
occasions and usually have no conscious understanding of the mechanisms that
operate that moment and make them eat less food .Other participants favoured E.I
theory .These mixed results show that both theories seem to occur in people
however the limitations of this research dont allow more general conclusions .

Conclusion

Another implication on these type of research is the idea that imagination and
reality are not so disconnected as believed. Our behaviour and condition can be
influenced by imagination in many different ways and many times without much

37

conscious awareness of the process .Imagination can not only create mental states
that resemble the real ones in a great degree but it has been found by research on
visual imagery and Fmri that 90% of the same brain areas are involved in real and
imagery vision (Ganis et al 2004) .
Imagination can have a direct influence on the behaviour and this is also
found by the research on clinical psychology and the mental imagery on psychiatric
disorders which has been found to be involved in the conditions .Such types of
research could also show how real is our world and how imagination can influence
the perception and behaviour of the person .
Its good to note also that visual imagery have been used in oriental
philosophical schools like yoga .In these techniques the participant has to visualize
different images of various content and combine this visual imagery with breath .In
these techniques visual imagery is so essential for the good progress on this arts
and the goal of these practises is also the mental development of the person .So its
good to have in mind that other people who didnt have the technology and
information of today used and exercised mental imagery in their studies mainly to
achieve a benefit for the spiritual psychological part of the participant .

The issue of mental imagery becomes more confusing due to the individual
differences in mental imagery. Mental imagery is different in each individual as found
by Andrade et al (2010) who created a vivid scale classification system .This shows
clearly that individuals differences in mental imagery true exist .This further means
that more research must be done on the mechanisms of the mental imagery tasks

38

and especially with E.I. theory and how it affects each individual and in which
particular way .
In a future study care should be taken to eliminate all the confounding factors
such as liking of crisps , satiation state of the participant and even a questionnaire
were participants would be asked to describe their own understanding of mental
imagery and craving.

Finally the results of the current study were not significant and the original
hypotheses were not supported .The small arithmetical differences that appeared are
either an indication that mental imagery had a small influence on some participants
or that other factors created these results .Even if not significant the results of the
study were interesting and open up new questions and challenges in order to further
understand how mental imagery influences our behaviour .The fact that mental
imagery is involved in so many parts of our life shows how important is for research
but also how complex and difficult to explain would be .

TABLES AND GRAPHS SECTION

Condition

MMMenmm
N
mMean in grams

Condition 1 - 33

17

7.94

SD
6.75

39

coins
Condition 2 - 33

18

7.55

9.97

crisps
Condition 3 - 1

17

9.76

8.90

52

8.40

8.56

minute mouth
sensation
Total

Table 1 First ANOVA Descriptive statistics table

ANOVA
Chipsgrams
Sum of Squares
Between Groups

df

Mean Square

48.075

24.037

Within Groups

3690.444

49

75.315

Total

3738.519

51

Sig.
.319

.728

Table 2 First ANOVA table results

40

Multiple Comparisons
chipsgrams
LSD
95% Confidence Interval

Mean Difference
(I) conditions

(J) conditions

1.00

2.00

.38562

2.93504

.896

-5.5126

6.2838

3.00

-1.82353

2.97668

.543

-7.8054

4.1583

1.00

-.38562

2.93504

.896

-6.2838

5.5126

3.00

-2.20915

2.93504

.455

-8.1073

3.6890

1.00

1.82353

2.97668

.543

-4.1583

7.8054

2.00

2.20915

2.93504

.455

-3.6890

8.1073

2.00

3.00

(I-J)

Std. Error

Sig.

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

Table 3 First ANOVA Multiple Comparisons Post hoc Lsd test

Descriptives
Chipsgrams
95% Confidence Interval for Mean
N

Mean

Not Selected

Std. Deviation

Std. Error

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

Minimum

Maximum

31.0000

6.05530

3.02765

21.3647

40.6353

27.00

40.00

Selected

48

6.5208

5.48883

.79224

4.9270

8.1146

1.00

25.00

Total

52

8.4038

8.56179

1.18731

6.0202

10.7875

1.00

40.00

Table 4 -Second ANOVA Descriptive statistics table

ANOVA
Chipsgrams
Sum of Squares

df

Mean Square

Between Groups

2212.540

2212.540

Within Groups

1525.979

50

30.520

Total

3738.519

51

F
72.496

Sig.
.000

Table 5 Second ANOVA table

RESEARCH GRAPHS
41

12

10

0
Group 1 - coins 33
Group 2 - crisps 33
Group 3 - I min crisps mouth sensation

Graph 1 .Group means of potato crisps consumption measured in grams.

42

Crisps consumption mean

10
5
0

Crisps consumption mean

con1

con2

con3

Graph 2 .First pilot study ( replication of original Morewedge et al 2010

research ).
Con1 - 33 coins
Con2 - 30 coins 3 crisps
Con3 - 3 coins 30 crisps
Dependent variable mean crisps consumption .measured in grams

REFERENCES
43

[ 1 ] Achtziger A et al (2009).Strategies of intention

formation are reflected in continuous MEG activity. Soc Neurosci. 2009;4:1127

[ 2 ] Andrade , May , Kavanagh (2012). Sensory Imagery in Craving: From Cognitive

Psychology to New Treatments for Addiction. Journal of Experimental
Psychopathology JEP Volume 3 (2012), Issue 2

[ 3 ] Andrade Jackie (2011) Sensory Imagery in Craving: From Cognitive Psychology

to New Treatments for Addiction

[ 4 ] Brownwell,K.D (1995) .Exercise in the treatment of obesity .Eating disorders

and obesity Handbook ,New York ,Guilford Press

[ 5 ] David J. Kavanagh Jackie Andrade and Jon May (2005) . Imaginary Relish and
Exquisite Torture:The Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desire . Copyright 2005 by the
American Psychological Association

44

[ 6 ] Evans JStBT(2008) .Dual-processing accounts of reasoning judgment and

social cognition. Annu Rev Psychol. 2008;59:25578

[ 7 ] Eysenck et al 2005 .Cognitive Psychology A students Handbook . U.S.A

Psychology Press fifth edition 2005

[ 8 ] Ganis et al (2004) Visual mental imagery: More thanseeing with the minds eye.
Harvard Medical School 2004.

[ 9 ] Harvey K. et al (2005). The nature of imagery processes underlying

food cravings . British Journal of Health Psychology (2005), 10, 4956

[ 10 ] Holmes Emily (2007) .Mental imagery in anxiety disorders . www.elsevier.com

[ 11 ] Holmes et al (2007) Imagery rescripting in cognitive behaviour therapy:Images,

treatment techniques and outcomes . Journal of behavioural therapy and
experimental psychiatry vol 38 2007 www.elsevier.com/locate/jbtep

[ 12 ] Levin E. (2007) .Why some of us get fat and what we can do about it. J
Physiol (Lond). 2007;583:425

45

[ 13 ] Manson et al (2002) . Epidemiology of health risks associated with obesity .

Eating disorders and obesity a comprehensive handbook ,New York , Guilford

[ 14 ] May J, Andrade J. et al (2010) .Visuospatial tasks suppress craving for

cigarettes. Behaviour Research and Therapy 48 (2010) 476485

[ 15 ] May John et al (2008) .Imagery and strength of craving for eating, drinking,
and Playing sport . Cognition & Emotion Octomber 2007.

[ 16 ] May J. & Andrade J. et al (2012). Elaborated Intrusion Theory: A CognitiveEmotional Theory of Food Craving . Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

[ 17 ] May J, Panabokke N, Andrade J, Kavanagh D (2004). Images of desire:

cognitive models of craving. Memory. 2004;12:44761
.

[ 18 ] Morewedge et al 2010 . Thought for food 1 - Imagined consumption reduces

actual food consumption .

[ 19 ] Morewedge, et al. (2010 ) .Imagined consumption

46

reduces actual food consumption .10 DECEMBER 2010 VOL 330 SCIENCE
www.sciencemag.org

[ 20 ] Schlundt DG, Virts KL, Sbrocco T. Pope-Cordle (1993) .A sequential

behavioral analysis of craving sweets in obese women. Addict
Behav. 1993;18:6780

[ 21 ] Schorr, J (1974) . Psychotherapy through imagery . New York, NY:

Intercontinental Medical Book Company, 1974

[ 22 ] Tiggeman M, Kemps E (2005). The phenomenology of food cravings: the

role of mental imagery. Appetite. 2005;45:30513

[ 23 ] Volkow ND, Wang GJ, Fowler JS et al (under release in 2012). Food and drug
reward: overlapping circuits in human obesity and addiction. Curr Top
Behav Neurosci, in press

47

University of Plymouth FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Human Ethics Committee Sample Consent Form
CONSENT FORM TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH PROJECT / PRACTICAL
STUDY
Name of Principal Investigator: Spiros Papageorgiou
Title of Research: Mental imagery and perceptual influences .
Purpose of research: To test how mental imagery influences a)the size perception of
common objects and b the sense of taste of real food (potato crisps).
___________________________________________________________________
_____
Brief statement of purpose of work
Hello and Welcome to my study !
My name is Spiros Papageorge and I am a student of the master program in
psychology .This is a research to see whether by imagining something vividly our
perception gets influenced by .In this experiment I am looking especially on size
perception and taste .The experiment is easy .I will ask you to imagine a sequence
of actions and then ask you a couple of questions .Then you will try some potato
crisps and tell us your opinion and thats all .
All data will be held securely only me and my supervisor have access to it and all
your name details will be erased at the analysis process. You have the right to
withdraw from the experiment if you want . You may participate only if you havent

48

participated in my former study on visual imagination .Also if you are allergic to

potato crisps you cant participate .
Please if you have any questions ask me .
The objectives of this research have been explained to me.
I understand that I am free to withdraw from the research at any stage, and ask for
my data to be destroyed if I wish.
I understand that my anonymity is guaranteed, unless I expressly state otherwise.
I understand that the Principal Investigator of this work will have attempted, as far
as possible, to avoid any risks, and that safety and health risks will have been
separately assessed by appropriate authorities (e.g. under COSHH regulations)
Under these circumstances, I agree to participate in the research.
Name:
. Signature: .....................................
..
Date: ........

Appendix
Item 2

DEBRIEF FORM
Mental imagery and influence on size and taste
perception
Investigator: Spiros Papageorge
Thanks again for your participation .Now that we have finished I will
explain you some details of the research .
In this research we were trying to see how mental imagery influences you
crisps consumption and not your size perception or taste . We told you so
to encourage you eat freely. This research is based on research by
Kavanagh, Andrade & May (2005) and Morewedge et al (2010) on visual
imagination and real food consumption . We wanted to see if more or less
repetition of imaginary eating crisps will influence your actual crisp eating
.Please be assured that this sort of deception is uncommon in psychology
experiments. In most studies, the researcher will tell you the truth about
the study and it is important that, when you take part in studies in the
future, you are not expecting to be deceived. Your data could be
49

withdrawn from the experiment if you wish by deleting your participation

number and the results from my database .
More research on this direction in the future will help many people with
eating disorders , phobias , addictions etc . Thank you again for the
participation and please tell me if you have any questions?
If you want to contact me about the study, please email Spiros
Papageorgiou
spirydon.papageorgiou@postgrad.plymouth.ac.uk or
Committee Secretary: Mrs Paula Simson
email: paula.simson@plymouth.ac.uk
tel: 01752 584503

50