Inhibitory control training for appetitive behaviour change: A meta-analytic investigation of mechanisms of action and moderators of effectiveness

Abstract

Rationale Both cue avoidance training (CAT) and inhibitory control training (ICT) reduce alcohol consumption in the laboratory. However, these interventions have never been directly compared and their mechanisms of action are poorly understood. Objectives We compared the effects of both types of training on alcohol consumption and investigated if they led to theoretically predicted changes in alcohol avoidance (CAT) or alcohol inhibition (ICT) associations and changes in evaluation of alcohol cues. Methods Heavy drinking young adults (N = 120) were randomly assigned to one of four groups: (1) CAT (repeatedly pushing alcohol cues away with a joystick), (2) sham (control) CAT; (3) ICT (repeatedly inhibiting behaviour in response to alcohol cues); or (4) sham (control) ICT. Changes in reaction times and automatic evaluations of alcohol cues were assessed before and after training using assessment versions of tasks used in training and the implicit association test (IAT), respectively. Finally, participants completed a bogus taste test as a measure of ad libitum alcohol consumption. Results Compared to sham conditions, CAT and ICT both led to reduced alcohol consumption although there was no difference between the two. Neither intervention affected performance on the IAT, and changes in reaction time did not suggest the formation of robust alcohol avoidance (CAT) or alcohol inhibition (ICT) associations after training. Conclusions CAT and ICT yielded equivalent reductions in alcohol consumption in the laboratory. However, these behav-ioural effects were not accompanied by devaluation of stimuli or the formation of alcohol avoidance or alcohol inhibition associations.

Parent–Child Interaction, Self-Regulation, and Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood

“…In addition, the facets of executive function that most strongly predict childhood metabolic outcomes remains an active area of research. Inhibitory control has been perhaps the most active area of investigation to date [20, 22, 23, 26, 83], but others domains, such as emotion regulation [24], may also play a role and require further study. Understanding the extent to which children’s executive function and general self-regulation relate to appetite and self-regulation in the context of eating will be important and is an active area of research [84–86].…”

Training response inhibition to reduce food consumption: Mechanisms, stimulus specificity and appropriate training protocols

“…For example, recent studies have shown that training individuals to inhibit simple motor responses to images of food, using either the stop-signal or go/no-go tasks, can result in the decreased consumption of that food (Houben and Jansen, 2011, Houben and Jansen, 2015, Houben, 2011, Lawrence et al., 2015a, Veling et al., 2011), healthier food choices (Koningsbruggen et al., 2014, Veling et al., 2013a, Veling et al., 2013b) and even weight loss (Lawrence et al., 2015b, Veling et al., 2014). Three recent meta-analyses have demonstrated small to medium effect sizes for the effect of food-related inhibition training compared to control training (Allom et al., 2015, Jones et al., 2016; Turton, Bruidegom, Cardi, Hirsch, & Treasure, 2016). However, there are some inconsistencies in training effects and several questions remain unanswered.…”

“…In the two studies presented here, we sought to investigate the mechanisms involved in these training effects and whether such effects are reliant upon stimulus-specific associations between the stop-signal and the trained food. For example, inhibition training may be most effective when strong automatic associations are formed between the foods and a successful stop response (Jones et al., 2016). Stimulus-specific training effects would therefore result in reduced consumption of the trained foods only, whereas generalised effects could see reduced consumption of other unhealthy foods or even healthy foods.…”

Control in Response Inhibition

“…For example, consistent pairing of food-related pictures to stopping in a go/no-go or stop-signal paradigm reduces subsequent food consumption (e.g., Houben & Jansen, 2011;Lawrence, Verbruggen, Morrison, Adams, & Chambers, 2015), and may even lead to weight loss Veling, van Koningsbruggen, Aarts, & Stroebe, 2014). Recent meta-analyses indicate that no-go/stop training has small but robust effects on food and alcohol consumption (Allom, Mullan, & Hagger, 2015;Jones et al, 2016). Go/no-go training may have larger effects on subsequent appetitive behaviour than stop-signal training.…”