How about Lunch? Consequences of the Meal Context on Cognition and Emotion

Werner Sommer,Annekathrin Schacht,Olga Shmuilovich,Manuel Martin-Loeches,Birgit Stürmer,Marcus Gray

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0070314

Abstract

Although research addresses the effects of a meal’s context on food preference, the psychological consequences of meal situations are largely unexplored. We compared the cognitive and emotional effects of a restaurant meal eaten in the company of others to a solitary meal consumed in a plain office using pre- and post-tests analysis and controlling for the kind and amount of food consumed. Three tasks were conducted, measuring: (1) semantic memory (2) cognitive control and error monitoring, and (3) processing of emotional facial expressions. Covert processes in these tasks were assessed with event-related brain potentials. A mood rating questionnaire indicated a relaxation effect of the restaurant as compared to the plain meal situation. The restaurant meal increased sensitivity to threatening facial expressions and diminished cognitive control and error monitoring. No effects were observed for semantic memory. These findings provide the first experimental evidence that a restaurant meal with a social component may be more relaxing than a meal eaten alone in a plain setting and may reduce cognitive control.

Highlights

Meals are of enormous importance to human beings for providing nutrition and energy and as a cultural and social institution [1,2,3]
– but not statistically - the same meals were rated somewhat lower by control group (CG) participants, possibly owing to the cooling of the food during the 15-min transport or to the lack of free choice
It is important to note the absence of a significant interaction of meal context with Session in any of the three scales

Summary

Introduction

Meals are of enormous importance to human beings for providing nutrition and energy and as a cultural and social institution [1,2,3]. Scientific research on meals is largely driven by concerns about the impact of food on physical and mental well-being. In this regard – and from a psychological point of view – there is mounting evidence that one’s diet may influence cognition as well as emotional states. A pleasant meal seems to elicit or modify emotional, cognitive, and social processes These contextual effects of food consumption on psychological processes appear to be largely unexplored on a scientific level. It was the aim of the present study to narrow this gap by investigating cognitive and emotional consequences of a pleasant restaurant meal in company as compared to a plain, solitary meal, while controlling for quantity and quality of food consumption

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Conclusion