Digital Food Dispenser
Background
A digital food dispenser is a tool to measure self-serving portion sizes. The tool is utilized by researchers studying eating behaviors, appetite regulation, and obesity prevention to evaluate what triggers a person to select larger portion sizes without needing to cook or waste physical food. Guido M. van Koningsbruggen and colleagues, e.g., used a digital food dispenser as one measure of selected portion sizes in their 2014 study on top-down vs. bottom-up interventions on food consumption.
Task Procedure
The Millisecond Digital Food Dispenser runs two trials in which participants can open and close a visual snack dispenser via a spacebar press or a mouse button click. While the response key is pressed, the digital food dispenser releases food items (here: bananas or cherries). Once the finger lifts off the response button, the dispenser closes.
What it Measures
A digital food dispenser measures self-served portion sizes
Psychological domains
- Self-regulation: Ability to monitor and manage your own attention, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to achieve goals and respond adaptively to your environment
- Inhibitory Control: Measures an individual's capacity to suppress the automatic impulse to select large, immediate food rewards
- Impulsivity: Tendency to act on a whim, displaying behavior characterized by little or no consideration of the long-term or negative consequences
Main Performance Metrics
- Dispensing Points: The participant gains 1 point for every 100ms that the response button is pressed; proxy measure of serving size
Psychiatric Conditions
Digital Food Dispensers have been used in the study with the following patient groups
- Binge Eating Disorder (BED) & Bulimia Nervosa
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)
Test Variations
A Digital Food Dispenser using keyboard input for measuring desired portion size as described in van Koningsbruggen et al (2014)
A Digital Food Dispenser using mouse input for measuring desired portion size as described in van Koningsbruggen et al (2014)
References
Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Digital Food Dispenser.
van Koningsbruggen, G.M., Veling, H., Stroebe, W. & Aarts, H. (2014). Comparing two psychological interventions in reducing impulsive processes of eating behaviour: Effects on self-selected portion size. British Journal of Health Psychology, 19, 767–782.