In their new study, Aukje, Poppy and Sanne investigated why the effects of health warnings on our food-choice behavior is typically rather limited. Using the Pavlovian-instrumental transfer task, participants learned associations between stimuli (abstract pictures), behavior and food products. Participants then read a text stating that one of the foods is unhealthy. In the task, participants then showed that in the absence of stimuli, people chose food products in line with health warnings. However, in the presence of food-related stimuli, their responding was biased towards that food product, regardless of the health warning and regardless of their desire for that product.
Read the article here: www.sciencedirect.com
Read the press release here in Dutch or English.
Reference:
Aukje A. C. Verhoeven, Poppy Watson, & Sanne de Wit (2018). Failing to pay heed to health warnings in a food-associated environment. Appetite, 120, 616-626.
Aukje demonstrates the computerized PIT task that was used for this research.