“Happy goat says”: The effect of a food selection inhibitory control training game of children's response inhibition on eating behavior

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that when inhibitory control is lacking, people are more inclined to indulge in high-calorie food, but inhibitory control can be trained. In this study, a daily-life training game was used to train children and investigate whether strengthening or weakening inhibitory control influences food intake in opposite directions. The baseline of response inhibition was measured by the go/no-go task, and the baseline of food intake was measured by a bogus food taste task. Then, participants performed a food selection training game named “Happy goat says” with three within-subject conditions: the first type of instruction was always paired without a go signal (inhibition manipulation); the second type of instruction was always presented with a go signal (impulsivity manipulation); and the third type of instruction was presented either with a go or no-go signal, both in 50% of the time (control manipulation). Following these manipulations, they went through the go/no-go task and bogus food taste task. In the pre-training food taste task, commission errors were positively correlated with body mass index. Relative to a control group playing Lego blocks (n = 20), the trained group showed a performance improvement on the go/no-go task. The intake of food in the inhibition manipulation was significantly less in the post-training food taste task. These findings demonstrate that children can gain control over the consumption of high-calorie food after a daily-life response inhibition training game.