Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, PO Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
EPPI Centre, UCL Social Research Institute, University College London, United Kingdom.
Appetite. 2024 Nov 1;202:107639. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107639. Epub 2024 Aug 18.
Imaginal retraining (IR) is an emerging intervention technique in which people imagine avoidance behaviors towards imagined foods or other substances, such as throwing them away. Although IR shows promise in reducing initial craving for a range of substances, including alcohol and tobacco, effects appear less robust for craving for energy-dense foods. This raises the question of how IR for food craving can be improved. Here, we address this question informed by emerging findings from IR dismantling studies and the field of regular cognitive bias modification training paradigms. Based on current insights, we suggest the most optimal 'craving-reduction' effects for energy-dense food can likely be expected for IR that includes an overt motor movement. While it is not yet clear what movement works best for food, we suggest a tailored movement or Go/No-Go-based stop movement has the potential to be most effective. The most likely mechanism in reducing craving is cue-devaluation of trained vivid craving images regarding specific energy-dense food products. Future work is needed that investigates and assess the underlying mechanisms (e.g., updating beliefs; cue-devaluation), task characteristics (e.g., IR instructions; specific motor movements) and individual characteristics (e.g., perceived craving; vividness of food imagination) that determine IR effects.
表象训练（IR）是一种新兴的干预技术，人们通过想象来避免想象中的食物或其他物质，例如将它们扔掉。尽管 IR 在减少各种物质（包括酒精和烟草）的初始渴望方面显示出前景，但对于对高能量食物的渴望，效果似乎不那么明显。这就提出了如何改进针对食物渴望的 IR 的问题。在这里，我们根据 IR 分解研究和常规认知偏见修正训练范式领域的新兴发现来解决这个问题。基于目前的研究结果，我们建议对于包括明显运动的 IR，最有可能获得最佳的“减少渴望”效果。虽然目前还不清楚哪种运动最适合食物，但我们建议量身定制的运动或基于 Go/No-Go 的停止运动可能最有效。减少渴望的最可能机制是针对特定高能量食物产品的训练生动渴望图像的线索贬值。需要进行未来的研究，以调查和评估决定 IR 效果的潜在机制（例如，更新信念；线索贬值）、任务特征（例如，IR 指令；特定的运动）和个体特征（例如，感知的渴望；食物想象的生动性）。
