Individual differences in the influence of taste and health impact successful dietary self-control: A mouse tracking food choice study in children

Abstract

In order to improve dietary quality among children, there is a need to understand how they make decisions about what foods to eat. This study used a mouse tracking food choice task to better understand how attributes such as health and taste contribute to food decisions among 70 children aged 7-to-11 years old. Children rated health, taste, and desire to eat for 76 common foods that varied in energy density and then used a computer mouse to select which of two presented foods they would like to eat. The presented food pairs were based on children's own ratings of taste and health so that some trials required self-control to choose the healthier option (i.e., healthy/not tasty paired with unhealthy/tasty). Children's body mass index (BMI) percentile was not associated with number of healthy choices. To examine mouse trajectories, we replicated previous analytic techniques and applied a novel technique, time-varying effects modeling (TVEM). Results showed that desire to eat impacted food decision-making sooner than taste and health during trials that required self-control, with TVEM showing that early discounting of desire to eat enabled healthier choices. However, these temporal dynamics varied by age, BMI percentile, and overall self-control performance in the task. When the less healthy food was chosen (i.e., self-control failure), older children and children with better overall self-control were more influenced by taste and desire to eat. However, children with higher BMI percentiles showed stronger discounting (i.e., negative influence) of taste when choosing the healthier food. Together this highlights how the influence of hedonic food attributes on food decision-making varies by individual child-level characteristics. Understanding individual differences in the cognitive processes that support healthy food choices in children may help identify targets for interventions aimed at improving child nutrition.

Keywords: Food choice; Mouse tracking; Time-varying effects model.

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest None.

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Figures

Figure 1.

A) Prototype images of foods used in the Food Choice Task. B) Displays for a single choice and an example mouse trajectory during

Figure 2.

Associations between mouse angle and differences in attribute ratings (Right – Left) for all trials. Figures A and C show Average β coefficient from individual GLMs with shaded area indicating standard error regions and vertical lines indicating average individual STPs for each Attribute. Figures B and D show Time-Varying Effect Model β coefficient with dotted lines or shading indicating 95% confidence interval. Horizontal bars on the X-axis indicate timepoints where the β coefficient is significant (i.e., 95% confidence region does not include 0). Attributes are distinguished by color and self-control performance by line type. A) standard approach for all trials, B) TVEM approach for all trials, C) standard approach for self-control trials, D) TVEM approach for self-control trials.

Figure 3.

Effect of self-control success ratio (SCSR) on temporal dynamics during food choice. Figures depict the Time-Varying Effects Model (TVEM) results for SCSR across all trials. There are 2 Y-axes—Left Y-axis: TVEM β coefficient for the interaction between Attribute and SCSR, plotted in the black line. Shaded areas represent the 95% confidence interval for the interaction β coefficient; Right Y-axis: TVEM β coefficient for the association between Attribute and mouse angle estimated for each SCSR quantile (quantile 1: <42%, quantiles 2 & 3: 42–57%, and quantile 4: >57%), distinguished by line color. Horizontal bars on the X-axis indicate Time Points where the interaction β coefficient is significant with Attribute distinguished by color. A) TVEM for Health x SCSR. B) TVEM for Taste x SCSR. C) TVEM for Desire to Eat x SCSR.

Figure 4.

Effect of body mass index (BMI) percentile on temporal dynamics during food choice. Figures depict the Time-Varying Effects Model (TVEM) results for Desire to Eat x BMI percentile. There are 2 Y-axes—Left Y-axis: TVEM β coefficient for the interaction between Desire to Eat and BMI percentile, plotted in the black line. Shaded areas represent the 95% confidence interval for the interaction β coefficient; Right Y-axis: TVEM β coefficient for the association between Desire to Eat and mouse angle estimated for each BMI percentile quantile (quantile 1: ≤52nd, quantiles 2 & 3: 52–94.9th, and quantile 4: ≥95th), distinguished by line color. Horizontal bars on the X-axis indicate Time Points where the interaction β coefficient is significant with Attribute distinguished by color. A) TVEM for all trials, B) TVEM for self-control trials.

Figure 5.

Effect of self-control success ratio (SCSR) on temporal dynamics during self-control. All figures depict the Time-Varying Effects Model (TVEM) results for Attribute x SCSR. There are 2 Y-axes—Left Y-axis: TVEM β coefficient for the interaction between Attribute and SCSR, plotted in the black line. Shaded areas represent the 95% confidence interval for the interaction β coefficient; Right Y-axis: TVEM β coefficient for the association between Attribute and mouse angle estimated for each SCSR percentile quantile (quantile 1: <42%, quantiles 2 & 3: 42–57%, and quantile 4: >57%), distinguished by line color. Horizontal bars on the X-axis indicate Time Points where the interaction β coefficient is significant with Attribute distinguished by color. A) Desire to Eat x SCSR for Successful Trials, B) Desire to Eat x SCSR for Unsuccessful trials, C) Health x SCSR for Unsuccessful trials, D) Taste x SCSR for Unsuccessful trials

Figure 6.

Effect of Age on temporal dynamics during self-control. All figures depict the Time-Varying Effects Model (TVEM) results Attribute x Age for Unsuccessful self-control trials. There are 2 Y-axes—Left Y-axis: TVEM β coefficient for the interaction between Attribute and Age, plotted in the black line. Shaded areas represent the 95% confidence interval for the interaction β coefficient; Right Y-axis: TVEM β coefficient for the association between Attribute and mouse angle estimated for each Age percentile quantile (quantile 1: <8.5 years, quantiles 2 & 3: 8.5–10.5 years, and quantile 4: >10.5 years), distinguished by line color. Horizontal bars on the X-axis indicate Time Points where the interaction β coefficient is significant with Attribute distinguished by color. A) Taste x Age, B) Desire to Eat x Age.