Effects of a pilot guided imagery intervention on temporal discounting and food demand among overweight and obese adults

Abstract

Unhealthy dietary choices contribute to negative health outcomes, such as cancer and cardiometabolic diseases. To promote healthy food choice, interventions should target both the regulation and reward mechanisms that guide eating behavior. Episodic future thinking (EFT)—imagining personal experiences that might occur in one’s future—may strengthen regulatory mechanisms by reducing unhealthy food choice and temporal discounting (i.e., valuing smaller immediate rewards over larger future rewards). Further, positive affect (PosA) related to healthy food may enhance the rewarding effects of healthy eating and strengthen the impact of EFT-anchored programs. Despite their potential synergistic effects, these processes have not examined together. We conducted a factorial, randomized, controlled pilot intervention to test the independent and interactive effects of EFT and PosA on temporal discounting, food choice, and food demand among overweight and obese adults.