A value accumulation account of unhealthy food choices: testing the influence of outcome salience under varying time constraints.

ABSTRACT: People often engage in unhealthy eating despite having an explicit goal to follow a healthy diet, especially under certain conditions such as a lack of time. A promising explanation from the value accumulation account is that food choices are based on the sequential consideration of the values of multiple outcomes, such as health and taste outcomes. Unhealthy choices may result if taste is considered before health. We examined whether making a health outcome more salient could alter this order, thereby leading to more healthy choices even under time pressure. Two studies examined the time-dependent effect of outcome values and salience on food choices. Participants first completed priming trials on which they rated food items on healthiness (health condition), tastiness (taste condition),

SUBMITTER: Koster M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9835743 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature