Journal papers

Grounding Motivation for Behaviour Change

Many of the key problems humans are facing today result from desires, habits, and social norms impeding behaviour change. Here, we apply a grounded cognition perspective to these phenomena, suggesting that simulating the consequences of one’s actions …

Flavours of desire - Cognitive representations of appetitive stimuli and their motivational implications

How do people cognitively represent appetitive stimuli? Do interactions with appetitive stimuli shape how we think about them, and do such representations affect motivation to consume? Although much is known about how people respond to appetitive …

No evidence that consumption and reward words on labels increase the appeal of water

Many people consume too much sugar from sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and would benefit from drinking water instead. Previous research has shown that taste and reward expectations play a key role in food and drink choices, and that thinking about …

The time is ripe - Thinking about the future reduces unhealthy eating in those with a higher BMI

Research suggests that being oriented more towards the future (than the present) is correlated with healthier eating. However, this research tends to be correlational, and thus it is unclear whether inducing people to think about their future could …

A systematic review of psychosocial explanations for the relationship between socioeconomic status and body mass index

A negative association between socioeconomic status (SES) and levels of overweight/obesity is consistently found in high- and middle-income countries. Yet, there is little conclusive evidence about the mechanisms driving this association. In this …

Poverty, inequality, and increased consumption of high calorie food - Experimental evidence for a causal link

Rising obesity represents a serious, global problem. It is now well established that obesity is associated with poverty and wealth inequality, suggesting that these factors may promote caloric intake. Whereas previous work has examined these links …