Abstract
Some previous studies have shown that an increase in blood glucose level makes people more future oriented, however, results are inconsistent, other studies failing to replicate this effect. Here, we tested whether psychological factors (in this instance, perception of food pleasantness after consumption of more palatable or less palatable meal) can play a moderating role. We hypothesized that consuming more palatable food (perceived as rewarding) should cause blood glucose levels to affect future discounting, but that this should not occur for the consumption of less palatable food. A high-powered, independent groups experiment (N = 149, power β = .90) showed that, subsequent to performing an initial discounting task, the two groups consuming a meal (a control group consumed no meal) displayed a significant increase in blood glucose levels 10 minutes after meal consumption and just before repeating the discounting task. However, the increased blood glucose levels did not cause changes in delay discounting in either experimental group.
Highlights
Both media coverage and scientific studies have highlighted the fact that blood glucose plays a substantial role in fueling the human brain
We observed no evidence that increases in blood glucose levels lead to changes in future discounting of monetary rewards
We observed a decrease in strength of future discounting among all three groups: participants slightly changed their preferences toward larger later payoffs after 10 minutes waiting time
Summary
Both media coverage and scientific studies have highlighted the fact that blood glucose plays a substantial role in fueling the human brain. Blood glucose has been connected with a wide range of behaviors and aspects of cognitive performance, e.g., memory [1], visuomotor task performance [2], and delay discounting [3, 4]. In the latter case, previous work shows that an increase in blood glucose level shifts people’s preferences toward being more future oriented [4, 5].
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