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. 2016 Jul 13;4(2):e10.
doi: 10.2196/games.5708.

A Serious Game to Increase Healthy Food Consumption in Overweight or Obese Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial

Tegan Blackburne  1 , Alexandra Rodriguez, Stuart John Johnstone
Affiliations

A Serious Game to Increase Healthy Food Consumption in Overweight or Obese Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial

Tegan Blackburne et al. JMIR Serious Games. .

Abstract

Background: Obesity is a growing global issue that is linked to cognitive and psychological deficits.

Objective: This preliminary study investigated the efficacy of training to improve inhibitory control (IC), a process linked to overeating, on consumption and cognitive control factors.

Methods: This study utilized a multisession mobile phone-based intervention to train IC in an overweight and obese population using a randomized waitlist-control design. A combination of self-assessment questionnaires and psychophysiological measures was used to assess the efficacy of the intervention in terms of improved general IC and modified food consumption after training. Attitudes toward food were also assessed to determine their mediating role in food choices. A total of 58 participants (47 female) completed 2 assessment sessions 3 weeks apart, with 2 weeks of intervention training for the training group during this time. The groups did not differ in baseline demographics including age, body mass index, and inhibitory control.

Results: Inhibitory control ability improved across the training sessions, with increases in P3 amplitude implying increased cognitive control over responses. Inhibitory control training was associated with increased healthy and reduced unhealthy food consumption in a taste test and in the week following training, as measured by the Healthy Eating Quiz and the food consumption test. Cognitive restraint was enhanced after training for the training but not the waitlist condition in the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire, implying that attempts to avoid unhealthy foods in the future will be easier for the training group participants.

Conclusions: Inhibitory control training delivered via a purpose-designed mobile phone app is easy to complete, is convenient, and can increase cognitive restraint and reduce unhealthy food consumption.

Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12616000263493; http://www.ANZCTR.org.au/ACTRN12616000263493.aspx (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6ioHjGING).

Keywords: eating; event-related potential; inhibition training; mobile apps; obesity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: SJ provided the training mechanism and parameters for the NoGo app to Neurocog Solutions Pty Ltd (Australia) at no cost. SJ has no financial interest in the NoGo app. SJ is a co-inventor of intellectual property licensed by the University of Wollongong (UOW) to Neurocog Solutions Pty Ltd and is entitled to a small portion of royalties received by UOW in relation to the sale of any product that uses the UOW intellectual property. This intellectual property makes up a proportion of the intellectual property used in another Neurocog Solutions product (Focus Pocus) but not NoGo. TB and AR have no financial association with Neurocog Solutions Pty Ltd.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) Flow diagram. Representation of the progress of participants through the trial. T1: time 1; T2: time 2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Example of the NoGo app environment with “unhealthy” (doughnut, orange soft drink) and “healthy” (radish, capsicum, water, orange) image categories. This example shows level 6—there are 6 images shown simultaneously, with the active image (requiring a response or not) indicated by the reaction time deadline timer (below doughnut).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Grand mean event-related potentials at Fz for Go and Nogo stimuli in the longer reaction time deadline task. W1: waitlist time 1; W2: waitlist time 2; T1: = training time 1; T2: training time 2.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Grand mean event-related potentials at Fz for Go and Nogo stimuli in the shorter reaction time deadline task. W1: waitlist time 1; W2: waitlist time 2; T1: training time 1; T2: training time 2.
Figure 5
Figure 5
P3 amplitude changes in the Go/Nogo tasks. P3 amplitude at sites F3 and F4 for the Go/Nogo tasks, with each reaction time deadline and time shown separately.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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