The preference for high-over low-calorie food and difficulties in inhibiting the desire for high-calorie food are important factors involved in unhealthy food choices. Here, we explored posthypnotic suggestions (PHS), aiming to increase the desire for vegetables and fruits, as a possible new tool to induce a preference for low-calorie food. Following the termination of hypnosis, PHS was activated and deactivated in counterbalanced order, while event-related brain-potentials were recorded. Two tasks were administered, a food-face classification measuring implicit food preferences, where stimuli were categorized as showing food items or faces, and a Go-NoGo task measuring inhibition, where food items were selected as being appropriate for making a salad or not. In the food-face classification task without PHS, the early visual P1 component, a marker of stimulus reward-associations, was larger in response to high-than low-calorie food pictures; PHS eliminated this difference. PHS also yielded faster RTs and larger amplitudes of a late positive component in low-versus high-calorie items. Hence, PHS appeared to neutralize the positive perceptual bias toward high-calorie food items and enhance the effective processing of low-calorie items by increasing motivated attention. In the Go-NoGo task, PHS decreased the NoGo-N2; PHS increased the early Go- and NoGo-P3, possibly by turning low- and high-calorie items more pleasant and unpleasant, respectively, requiring more proactive control to inhibit task-irrelevant food-related emotions. Further, in the Go condition, PHS quickened the rejection of salad-inappropriate high-calorie items and increased the amplitude of late-P3, indicating facilitated classification of high-calorie items and increased response monitoring. Together, PHS effectively increased the preference for low-calorie food and the inhibition of impulses toward high-calorie food; therefore, PHS may be a promising tool for supporting healthy and sustainable food choices.

中文翻译：

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通过催眠后建议改变食物偏好：一项与事件相关的脑电势研究

对高热量食物的偏爱和难以抑制对高热量食物的渴望是导致选择不健康食物的重要因素。在这里，我们探索了催眠后建议 (PHS)，旨在增加对蔬菜和水果的渴望，作为一种可能的新工具来诱导对低热量食物的偏好。催眠终止后，PHS 以平衡顺序激活和停用，同时记录事件相关的脑电势。执行了两项任务，一个是测量内隐食物偏好的食物面部分类，其中刺激被归类为显示食物或面孔，以及测量抑制的 Go-NoGo 任务，其中选择食物是否适合制作沙拉。在没有 PHS 的食物人脸分类任务中，早期的视觉 P1 组件，刺激奖励关联的标志，对高热量食物图片的反应大于低热量食物图片；PHS 消除了这种差异。PHS 还在低热量和高热量项目中产生了更快的 RT 和更大的晚期阳性成分幅度。因此，小灵通似乎消除了对高热量食品的积极感知偏见，并通过增加积极的注意力来增强对低热量食品的有效加工。在 Go-NoGo 任务中，PHS 减少了 NoGo-N2；PHS 增加了早期的 Go- 和 NoGo-P3，可能是通过分别使低热量和高热量食物变得更令人愉快和不愉快，需要更积极的控制来抑制与任务无关的食物相关情绪。此外，在 Go 条件下，PHS 加快了对沙拉不合适的高热量项目的拒绝，并增加了后期 P3 的幅度，表明促进了高热量项目的分类并加强了反应监测。总之，小灵通有效地增加了对低热量食物的偏好和抑制对高热量食物的冲动；因此，PHS 可能是支持健康和可持续食物选择的有前途的工具。