Hetherington Marion M, Anderson Annie S, Norton Geraldine N M, Newson Lisa
Department of Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
Physiol Behav. 2006 Jul 30;88(4-5):498-505. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2006.04.025. Epub 2006 Jun 6.
Eating in competition with other tasks has been shown to increase food intake, particularly when tasks are cognitively demanding. To test the hypothesis that social facilitation of eating occurs, in part, as a function of distraction which impairs the ability to self-monitor, eating with others was compared with eating alone or in front of the television. Using a repeated measure within-subjects design, thirty-seven participants (21 males) visited the laboratory 4 times to eat a buffet-style lunch ad libitum. All eating episodes were filmed. Energy intake (EI) was measured when participants ate alone (A), ate alone while watching TV (B), ate with two same sex strangers (C), and ate with two same sex friends (D) in a counterbalanced order. EI was significantly enhanced by presence of familiar others (D: 4565+/-272 kJ, p < 0.001) and watching TV (B: 4350+/-252 kJ, p < 0.05) compared to baseline (A: 3861+/-200 kJ). Length of eating episode correlated significantly (p < 0.05) with EI, however, amount of time spent eating and looking at food differed by condition with a greater percentage of time focussed on food during baseline (p < 0.001). Eating with friends increased EI by 18% and eating in front of the TV increased EI by 14% relative to baseline. Engaging in conversation or watching TV draws attention away from the eaten food and can stimulate food intake. However, since eating with strangers also drew attention away from food but did not result in increased intake, social facilitation effects are not simply due to distraction. Thus food intake can be enhanced when attention to food and self-monitoring are impaired during distraction, however, this effect is moderated when eating with strangers.
研究表明，在执行其他任务的同时进食会增加食物摄入量，尤其是当这些任务需要较高认知能力时。为了验证进食时的社交促进作用部分是由于注意力分散削弱了自我监控能力这一假设，研究将与他人一起进食的情况与独自进食或在电视前进食进行了比较。采用重复测量的被试内设计，37名参与者（21名男性）分4次到实验室随意享用自助式午餐。所有进食过程均进行了拍摄。参与者分别在独自进食（A）、边看电视边独自进食（B）、与两名同性陌生人一起进食（C）以及与两名同性朋友一起进食（D）这几种情况下，以平衡的顺序进行，期间测量能量摄入量（EI）。与基线情况（A：3861±200千焦）相比，有熟悉的人在场（D：4565±272千焦，p<0.001）以及看电视（B：4350±252千焦，p<0.05）时，EI显著增加。进食时长与EI显著相关（p<0.05），然而，不同条件下用于进食和看食物的时间量有所不同，基线时专注于食物的时间百分比更高（p<0.001）。与朋友一起进食时，EI相对于基线增加了18%，在电视前进食时，EI相对于基线增加了14%。参与交谈或看电视会将注意力从所吃的食物上转移开，从而刺激食物摄入量增加。然而，由于与陌生人一起进食也会将注意力从食物上转移开，但并未导致摄入量增加，所以社交促进作用并非仅仅是由于注意力分散。因此，当在注意力分散期间对食物的关注和自我监控受到损害时，食物摄入量会增加，然而，与陌生人一起进食时这种影响会减弱。
