Visual deprivation hinders food recognition (but may improve monitoring of consumption quantity)

Abstract

Background: Visual cues have been shown to play an important role in shaping eating behavior. In the current study, we to examine the effects of visual deprivation on the ability to recognize food and to monitor quantity consumed. Methods: Sixty-one students participated in an ice cream taste test twice, once when blindfolded and once while seeing normally (order cross-balanced). The same three types of ice cream were tested at both sessions; these were commonly known types of ice cream from a large retailer. In both sessions, food recognition was assessed by asking participants to indicate which types of ice cream they thought they consumed. Participants also estimated how much they consumed, while actual quantity consumed was unobtrusively recorded. Findings: When tasting blindfolded, food recognition was 83% inaccurate, compared to 30% when tasting normally (p < .001). This effect was only present when the blindfolded session was run first; participants who tasted blindfolded in the second session were as accurate (34% inaccuracy) as seeing participants. Furthermore, while participants overestimated consumption in both conditions, overestimation was more pronounced in the seeing (M = 74gr) than in the blindfolded (M = 48gr, p = .028) condition. Discussion: Visual deprivation was shown to hinder food recognition, indicating that visual cues are an essential component to our ability to recognize food. Visual deprivation seemed to improve monitoring of the quantity of food consumed. This may be due to a lack of external (visual) cues distracting participants, causing attention to shift towards interoceptive cues.