Piece of cake. Cognitive reappraisal of food craving

A common emotion regulation strategy, cognitive reappraisal, involves altering the meaning of a situation so that the emotional response to the situation is changed. Most research on reappraisal has focused on down-regulation of negative emotion; few studies exist on reappraisal of positive affect, and even fewer have examined the cognitive reappraisal of craving for energy-dense (e.g., “junk”) foods. In the present study we examined this form of cognitive reappraisal using a new adaptation of a classic emotion regulation task. Subjects chose idiosyncratic categories of craved (and not craved) energy-dense foods as stimuli, and were instructed either to look at the stimulus or to reappraise it in a way that reduced desire to eat the depicted food using a strategy that could be used in the real world. A repeated-measures ANOVA and follow-up tests revealed that reappraisal significantly reduced self-reported desirability of both Craved and Not Craved foods, but for a greater degree in Craved foods. In addition, the degree to which subjects decreased their desire to consume Craved foods positively correlated with the cognitive restraint subscale of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire, a measure of self-control of eating in everyday life.

► Cognitive reappraisal is traditionally used to reduce negative emotion.
► We investigate the reappraisal of primary rewards associated with unhealthy food.
► To model the real world, subjects selected craved foods and reappraisal strategies.
► Cognitive reappraisal effectively reduces the desire to eat unhealthy foods.
► This reduction is significant for idiosyncratically craved foods and strategies.