Television watching increases motivated responding for food and energy intake in children

Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Feb;85(2):355-61. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/85.2.355.

Abstract

Background: Sedentary activities, such as watching television, may disrupt habituation to food cues, thereby increasing motivation to eat and energy intake.

Objective: These experiments were designed to examine the effect of television watching on habituation of ingestive behavior in children.

Design: In experiment 1, all children worked for access to cheeseburgers in trials 1-7 (habituating stimulus). In trials 8-10, children in the control group continued to work for cheeseburgers without any dishabituating stimuli, whereas children in the other groups received either a novel food (French fries) or television as dishabituating stimuli. Responding for food and amount of food eaten were measured. In experiment 2, all children had access to 1000 kcal of a preferred snack food. One group watched a continuous television show, and the control groups either watched no television or watched a repeated segment of a television show, which controls for the television stimulus but requires reduced allocation of attention.

Results: In experiment 1, both the novel food and the television watching groups reinstated responding for food (P = 0.009) and increased the amount of energy earned (P = 0.018) above the level of the control subjects. In experiment 2, the continuous television group spent more time eating (P < 0.0001) and consumed more energy than the no television and the repeated segment groups (P = 0.007).

Conclusion: These experiments show that television watching can dishabituate eating or disrupt the development of habituation, which may provide a mechanism for increased energy intake associated with watching television.

Publication types

  • Controlled Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Cues
  • Eating*
  • Energy Intake / physiology*
  • Female
  • Food*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Television*
  • Time Factors